Reviews

The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

Disney, the studio that gave birth to animation, has given us such classic as Pinocchio, Fantasia and Beauty and the Beast; films of such joy and power, many containing stern moral messages for the young viewers (Pinocchio, Beauty and the Beast, The Lion King)...However, never before or since has Disney so daringly steered from its safe boundaries, as with The Hunchback of Notre Dame, a film of such maturity, depth and darkness that you almost forget it was made by the same studio that brought us Aladdin four years earlier...Not even the Shakespearean tones of Disney's previous masterpiece, The Lion King, made way for the audacity of adapting Victor Hugo's 1831 dark and haunting novel...

The story revolves around Quasimodo, a deformed bellringer at the Notre Dame Cathedral, his vicious guardian, Judge Claude Frollo, a bigot who has a burning desire to eradicate all gypsies from Paris...The other main character is Esmeralda, a beautiful, street-smart gypsy, who befriends Quasimodo.

Frollo, is enchanted by Esmeralda, he experiences erotic desires towards her, but cannot understand why he is drawn towards someone so 'inferior'...The character of Frollo reminds me of the sadistic Nazi, Amon Goeth, in Schindler's List, who is attracted to his beautiful maid, but he still lashes out at her, because she is a Jew...

Never has a mainstream animated film, tackled issues of racism, xenophobia and mob hysteria...Frollo's visions of demons and sexual longings towards Esmeralda during a breathtaking sequence in the film must be particularly startling for younger viewers...

The film has its shares of humour, particularly from Quasimodo's friendly gargoyles, and a number of joyous songs...While not as dark as Hugo's depressing novel, this is a very intense film for younger viewers and credit to Disney for taking such a risk...

An overlooked masterpiece.

10/10

The King's Speech

Top 5 - 2010

I am not a big fan of Royal dramas or period pieces generally. They often focus on technical beauty, often neglecting character and plot. The King's Speech is a definite exception. A perfectly crafted, beautiful film that fills you with joy. The central characters are beautifully humanised by Colin Firth (King George VI), Geoffrey Rush (Lionel Logue) and Helena Bonham Carter (Elizabeth). All of the lead performances are of Oscar calibre.

This is the story of Prince Albert, Duke of York, who became King George VI, but struggled to correct his speech problems - his stammering unsettles many people, and 'Bertie' needed to solve it for his King's speech to the nation. Many elite doctors come and go, without success in solving the stammering. Until Prince Albert, meets Lionel Logue, an Australian speech therapist whose methods are unorthodox and his approach a bit informal towards royalty. When Prince Albert visits Logue's office in Harley Street, Logue informs him - "My Castle, My Rules". From thereon, an uneasy relationship at first, blossoms into an unusual friendship, as Logue puts his heart into helping 'Bertie' (as he calls him - "Bertie" is only for the family).

Beautiful direction, cinematography, art production and a fine script that is both funny and emotionally touching, the King's Speech is a crowd-pleaser without being cheap entertainment.

A very good film.

9/10

Black Swan

Darren Aronofsky has a certain ability to drill down to the deepest chasms of the human psyche - we have seen it in his heartbreaking masterpiece, Requiem for A Dream, and his last powerhouse, The Wrestler. With Black Swan he goes about investigating obsession, compulsion, fascination, psychosis and jealousy under the cover of the world of ballet. More specifically, during a production of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake.

The story revolves around Nina, and her quest to master the poetic contrasts of both the White Swan and the Black Swan. Surrounding Nina are her controlling and envious former ballerina mother, her ballet instructor, and Lily who is essentially a dark reflection of Nina's personality, or so she projects.

Black Swan is high art cinema, combining operatic age old themes of competition, and destruction in the quest for perfection for the arts. The film is a psychosexual thriller, I guess, and is claustrophobic and intense enough to delve into horror territory at times.

No review of Black Swan, however will provide a fair assessment if it omits to mention Natalie Portman... Her performance is breathtaking and intensely visualised. This was such a draining role to play - a ballerina, suffering the rigours of the process and the mental strains she undergoes. This is a masterful performance. If she does not win the Academy Award for Best Actress, it will surely be a tragedy.

If you want a truly different, engaging and fulfilling time at the cinema, which does not involve CGI Monsters or 3D superheroes, Black Swan is well worth your time.

Breathtaking, mesmerising cinema.

10/10

Mulholland Drive (2001)

Number 1 - 2001

Number 1 - 2000s

Top 10 - All Time

There is no other director like David Lynch. His films can only be described as Lynchian. No other adjective is adequate, and that is a compliment. The man's films are an antidote to the orthodox mode of artistic expression: [1] beginning, [2] middle, [3] end. While the vast majority of pictures, since the beginning of the cinema, begin by introducing a number of characters and navigate us through a story from beginning to end, with (usually) some resolution, Lynch's best films offer no linearity, no reliable characters (Who is that person? Does that person exist? Is that person many different characters?), and offer no comfortable resolution (Did anything happen? Is this reality or is this dream? What the f*ck?). To many "conventional" filmgoers, that is too much to handle. A film like Eraserhead, Lost Highway, or Mulholland Drive, is anathema to the senses, and for many, that avenue of filmmaking is foreclosed; no thank you…But to those who are able and willing to enter the rabbit-hole, they will (or should) emerge liberated, frustrated, frightened, puzzled and utterly exhilarated. Lynch's modus operandi is that life is mysterious, random, inexplicably violent, strange and, well, non-linear. So why should the cinema be any different?

Mulholland Drive, David Lynch's ultimate masterpiece, and one of the greatest works ever committed to celluloid, incorporates, in equal measure, the weird and wonderful, on a canvas that blurs consciousness from unconsciousness, and reality from dream (is there a difference?). It is a singular cinematic experience of the purest kind. This much can be said, without faltering into confusion and error. It tells the story of an aspiring actress, Betty (she may not be Betty), who arrives in Los Angeles, from Canada (she may not have arrived from Canada at all), and settles in her aunt's apartment in Hollywood (an apartment that smells and feels Old Hollywood, something which reminds us of Sunset Boulevard). Soon after her arrival, Betty befriends, a beauty woman with amnesia, who apparently had a serious car accident on Mulholland Drive. From thereon I hesitate to say much more. We are shown several stories and characters, a film director, a mysterious wheel- chaired bound film executive (or something) that resides in shadows behind a glass screen in his office, a "cowboy", a blue goblin, a mysterious woman, a surreal theatre, and, well, other things. Lynch himself, released "10 Clues to Unlocking This Thriller"; these are:

"[1] Pay particular attention in the beginning of the film: At least two clues are revealed before the credits. [2] Notice appearances of the red lampshade. [3] Can you hear the title of the film that Adam Kessler is auditioning actresses for? Is it mentioned again? [4] An accident is a terrible event – notice the location of the accident. [5] Who gives a key, and why? [6] Notice the robe, the ashtray, the coffee cup. [7] What is felt, realized and gathered at Club Silencio? [8] Did talent alone help Camilla? [9] Note the occurrences surrounding the man behind Winkie's. [10] Where is Aunt Ruth?"

My suspicion is that these clues are only further tools to fall deeper into the mystery. There is no concrete meaning to be unlocked: 1+1 does not equal 2 in this film; why should it? Human beings are pattern- seeking mammals: we seek order in everything – the universe, life, love – sometimes our curiosity is satisfied through reason and discovery (science), others through fear and superstition (faith). Lynch knows how to play to our weaknesses, and often manages, quite skilfully to terrify us along the way.

Mulholland Drive is above all, a beautiful exercise in filmmaking – it is a gorgeous film – it is literally intoxicating. If you seek meaning, the best we can do (I think) is to extract certain overarching themes: human identity, broken dreams and poisonous fame, and human frailty. After that you are on your own.

This film needs to be experienced; it is an astounding experience, and if you don't buy it, then go and watch Pearl Harbour…

"Silencio…Silencio…Silencio"

Avatar (2009)

Top 5 - 2009

The comparisons to 'Star Wars' and the thematic parallels to 'Dances With Wolves' the Oscar winning masterpiece set in the plains of America, (where a Lieutenant in the Civil War era, befriends the native American people and rebels against the savage operations of the Army) are well founded. In 'Avatar' it is 2154, the Earth has been ravaged and exploited for its resources, so we take our military might to the planet of Pandora to extract resources at any cost necessary in order to profit back at Earth. The film centres around Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) a paraplegic ex-marine, whose mind is transplanted into a 9 foot Avatar of a Na'vi, in order to blend in the environment of Pandora and with the natives and obtain information for the huge American corporation about a worthy mineral called 'unobtainium' (no marks for originality there) which can be sold for millions/kg back on Earth. However Jake discovers the wonderful balance of the ecosystem in Pandora, the respect of the natives for nature and the energy transfer systems which enhance the natives' lives as they interact and respect their environs. Jake as Lieutenant Dunbar in 'Dances With Wolves' rebels. He sees too precious a thing to destroy.

The ecological message of 'Avatar' which relates to our current ravaging of our planet which is tipping the balances of nature and the aggressive imperialism of the USA, reflected by two current wars is reflected in the outlook of the film. The film, as noted by many critics is standard in its screenplay layout, character deployment and predictability, however Cameron still manages to pack an intense and thoroughly entertaining experience for over 160 minutes. The film even works emotionally at times, which some may find surprising. Any flaws in certain areas of the film are recovered by its breathtaking visual quality, which for once elevates the film instead of spoiling it. Amidst a blitz of annual brainless blockbusters, most notably Transformers 2 (which was outrageously bad), Avatar has its place somewhere along the Star Wars Saga and Jurassic Park in its first rate blockbuster quality. Cameron is a master of blockbusters.

With the Academy widening the Best Picture nominations to 10 this year, Avatar is certain to secure a nomination, along with Director, Visual Effects, Sound Editing, Sound Mixing, Original Score, Original Song and very possibly other categories. This year has been on average a poor year for film (despite glories at the Box Office) and it would not surprise me if 'Avatar' swept across all categories. After all the Academy has traditionally had a soft spot for massive scale, epic productions (from Gone With the Wind and Ben Hur to Gladiator), so I would not be too surprised if Avatar wins Best Picture. It would be a great thing for a science fiction film to get major critical recognition by the way of awards, because many sci-fi masterpieces have been unjustly ignored, most notably 2001: A Space Odyssey which should have swept the 1968 Oscars.

Cameron now has the 2 top box office juggernauts (unadjusted for inflation) and I think we might see a couple more Avatar films. The problem is, how do you top this one? How can you make it better without spoiling it? Well, I'll leave that to James Cameron.

8/10

Blade Runner (1982)

Top 3 - 1982

Top 3 - Sci Fi Films of All Time

Top 50 - All Time

Ridley Scott's visually intoxicating sci-fi epic that is 'Blade Runner' has finally gained the momentum and recognition it fully deserves, over two decades after its release. It even made the revised version of the AFI's Top 100 American Films.

When released in 1982, Blade Runner flopped at the box office and sharply divided critics. Its technical brilliance was universally acknowledged, however many critics believed the film lacked a real human story and depth in its dramatic nature. Even eminent American critic Roger Ebert felt the film failed on a 'human level', although he somewhat revised his opinions years later.

Well I strongly disagree with this interpretation of the film - after all, this is a cautionary tale about the accelerating mechanisation of our society, the unsustainable expansion of the world and the increasing grasp of massive corporations. The film's elements range from subtle philosophical dilemmas such as 'What makes a human a human?' 'What constitutes existence?" An allusion to these dilemmas is offered by Pris (Daryl Hannah), who is a Replicant when she utters Rene Descartes' signature dictum: "I think therefore I am". Or when Roy (Rutger Hauer) quotes Nietzsche ("I've seen things") in his monologue at the end of the film. Blade Runner has depth and multiple layers to it, which I suspect would be fully discovered if the film is watched multiple times.

Los Angeles, 2019 - Oppressively high rise temples soar up into the occluded and polluted skies of LA. Acid Rain collects between the neon-illuminated fissures that separate the colossal buildings. The city is a hybrid of races (there is nothing sci-fi about that) and the city's poor are enslaved in infected dwellings on ground level, while the rich are secluded in their skyscrapers or the very rich have escaped into "off world colonies", where they profit from Replicants who they use as slave labour. The Tyrell Corporation makes Replicants exactly like humans and injects them with a lifespan of 4 years, because they collect too many memories and acquire to much human experience, making them dangerously human. Can these artificial beings become humans? They feel, they smell, they are emotionally attached, does that matter? The film centres on a Blade Runner assigned to "decommision" a few Replicants who escaped back to Earth, which is strictly prohibited. As the film progresses, we wonder is Deckard a Replicant, if so he is indistinguishable. This film is the grittier, darker more violent 80s version of Kubrick's '2001'. It is an astonishing achievement.

The film was overshadowed upon release by the dominance of 'ET: The Extra Terrestrial', another masterpiece by Spielberg, but one that offers more comforting qualities than Scott's probing epic.

10/10

Bringing Out The Dead (1999)

Top 10 - 1999

Martin Scorsese, a maestro of cinema returns to his favourite theme that is New York City. Scorsese knows New York and he loves his native city. Where Woody Allen pays tribute to his adored city, Scorsese examines the problems, complexities and densities of one of America's most fascinating cities.

Bringing Out The Dead is about a burned out NYC paramedic, haunted and shattered by the intensity and obscure nature of his job. The film takes place over 3 nights as he rides with 3 insane co-workers. The film is adapted from a novel written about New York paramedics and the difficulties and physical and mental testings of the job. The screenplay is written by Paul Schrader who also wrote the script to Scorsese's awesome Taxi Driver. Again, using Frank (Nicolas Cage) as his lens to the dark and shady corners of New York's 'barrel of humanity', Scorsese examines issues such as decay, degeneration and the meaning of death and life in certain respects. Are these poor, miserable, drugged beings crawling the streets at night really alive. This time it is New York of early 90s as opposed mid 70s in Taxi Driver.

Nicolas Cage provides an impressive performance and is supported by an array of very talented actors that include Ving Rhames, John Goodman, Tom Sizemore and Patricia Arquette.

A very good film, not a masterpiece, but proves that Scorsese never derails when it comes to making good films.

8/10

Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen (2009)

Transformers 2, falls short of its predecessor, despite more action, more robots, more slow motion, unrelenting explosions and all that signature Michael Bay stuff. While Transformers 1 was thoroughly entertaining, this one, is overdrawn, even dumber, too loud and times boring. While it manages a number of decent scenes and some funny ones as well, this film is really quite poor overall. However it does not matter at all what I say here, because the film will be a huge box office success and very likely a sequel will be spawned.

Despite a huge budget, the final sequences of the film, supposedly taking place on the outskirts of Cairo in Egypt in a dusty area, it looks as fake and cheap as anything. In fact I am quite sure that the sets there were the same used in the beginning of the first one!

1/10

Raging Bull (1980)

Number 1 - 1980

Number 1 - 1980s

Top 50 - All Time

"Raging Bull is another perfect example of why Scorsese is perhaps the greatest director of all..."

Raging Bull is a film of rare power. It is virtuoso filmmaking on the part of Scorsese. It is an intense examination of the volatile and self- destructive boxer, Jake La Motta - his jealousies, his insecurities his explosive anger...This is not a boxing movie...It is a movie that has boxing in it...La Motta uses boxing as a bloody catharsis to his everyday feelings and fears...The boxing scenes are so beautifully directed by Scorsese, and so effectively bloody, they make Rocky look like a fairytale...This is the best film of 1980, and the triumph of 1980s world cinema...It is a cinematic giant...

Paranoia and blind jealousy drive La Motta crazy and he often bursts against his brother and wife. In one scene, La Motta's instability is revealed when he goes to his brother's house when his brother is having lunch with his family and starts beating the hell out of him asking him: "Did you f*ck my wife?"

Raging Bull is not an easy film to enjoy; you do not easily relate to these characters; you watch closely, but safely from the outside...but these are people, and Scorsese and De Niro never look down at them...

Apart from Scorsese's sublime direction, Raging Bull could never have been the powerhouse that it turned out, were it not for Robert De Niro...Here is a performance for the ages, a total and absolute immersion - De Niro drives La Motta through extremes pains and cycles, from a raging bull, to a fat old man reduced to making jokes at a Florida club...

Cinema at its paramount...A rare masterpiece...

10/10

The Verdict (1982)

Top 3 - 1982

The Verdict, another excellent achievement for the magnificent Sidney Lumet (12 Angry Men) is the kind of film that shakes the insides, makes you think and consider things such as truth, morality, redemption and justice. Lumet does the same thing he does with 12 Angry Men in this film, he simply, without any tricks or fancy work expose us to the flaws of the law and justice, and how the rich nearly always gain the upper hand, but not always as this film shows. As Frank Galvin (Newman) says the court gives the poor and powerless a chance and sometimes they can walk out with something.

Paul Newman proves in 'The Verdict' why his name stands amongst the Hollywood elite; his performance is truly magnificent. He plays a drunk, divorced, washed up Boston lawyer with a losing streak who gets a second chance to redeem himself. His boss/partner brings him a case so easy to settle out of court that he could make a bunch of money and not worry about a thing; about a Boston Catholic Hospital who administered the wrong anaesthetic to a young woman and destroyed her life; she is in a coma; deprived of speech, sound and vision. Galvin visits the Catholic bishop in relation to St. Catherine's hospital for a quick settlement, but on his way there he goes to see the girl; he sees the pain, destruction of a life... Galvin rejects $210,000 ($70,000) which would go straight in his pockets. Why? He can't be paid off to look the other way while a girl is paralysed and dying on a hospital bed. He takes them to court, despite disbelief from both the opposition and the judge himself.

The story follows, as the powerful, defence attorney team rattle Newman's cage, through a variety of ways, leaving him with no ideas; but he fights, he does not surrender, he has a truth to fight for, he wants real justice, he wants redemption, and he gets it eventually... He wins the case not on masterful inquisitiveness of the law, but working as a decent human being relying on the humanity of the jurors to see beyond all the smoke and mirrors of the defence...

The Verdict has great qualities; its the kind of film that is cathartic, satisfying while entertaining and superbly acted.

9/10

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Top 5 - 1998

The story goes as follows: Jeff Bridges stars as Jeffrey Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker an avid bowler, who refers to himself as "the Dude".

After being mistaken for a multimillionaire who has the same name, Lebowski is commissioned to deliver a million-dollar ransom in order to secure the release of the millionaire's kidnapped trophy wife. The plan goes awry, and the Dude's friend Walter Sobchak (John Goodman) further complicates the ordeal. The film is narrated by a cowboy known only as "Stranger", played by Sam Elliott. Steve Buscemi, Philip Seymour Hoffman, David Huddleston, Julianne Moore, Tara Reid and John Turturro also star in the film. The film's structure has been compared to Raymond Chandler's novel The Big Sleep. The original score was composed by Carter Burwell, a longtime collaborator of the Coen Brothers.

The Big Lebowski has the Coens on top creative form, creating a bizarre, visually exciting modern cult classic. Jeff Bridges as "The Dude", John Goodman as his slightly psychotic Vietnam war veteran friend provide excellent performances with additional support from Steve Buscemi (an underrated talent) and the fantastic John Turturro in a small role as a crazy bowler named Jesus. The screenplay is fantastic, the photography by Roger Deakins is effective once more and the film itself is one of the most entertaining pictures I have ever seen. The Coens are true masters of modern cinema. Although the film has been criticised by many film critics for its structure, themes and absurd showiness by the Coens, I found the experience to be pure cinematic nirvana!

Excellent, surreal comedy

9/10

Some Like it Hot (1959)

Number 1 - 1959

Top 5 - 1950s

Top 100 - All Time

Number 1 - Comedy of all time

Billy Wilder's classic screwball comedy is far ahead of its time and the benchmark for modern comedies to follow. The plot is fundamental comedy; two Chicago musicians in 1929 Prohibition America are looking for a job after police bust up the club they were playing at due to it supplying alcohol. Through wandering around the streets, they witness a gangland murder and have to hide from the Italian Mafia who do not want any witnesses to their crimes... So they take up a job as two female band players in an all female band going to a beautiful resort in Florida. While on their way they meet a host of beautiful girls and of course the iconic and intoxicating Marilyn Monroe in one of her finest roles - she succeeds in embodying her role in every dimension.

This truly outstanding comedy is far ahead of its time and is subtly and not too subtly all about sex and standard human behaviour. Greed, love, money, sex and lust. All processed in a wonderful way that would be appropriate for a 1950s comedy. What I like about 'Some Like it Hot' is the very fact that it is not crude and unnecessarily sexual comedy like the idiotic examples we get today.

Jack Lemmon provides an extraordinary performance in a role that should have won him his first Oscar (it was awarded to Charlton Heston for Ben Hur that year, due to the fact that Ben Hur was an epic production). Tony Curtis and Marilyn Monroe are both sublime in their roles and Billy Wilder's craft make this an undoubted masterpiece and the greatest comedy of all time.

10/10

The Good The Bad and The Ugly (1966)

Sergio Leone's masterful last part of his 'Spaghetti Western' trilogy is perhaps the greatest Western of all time. This is hardcore Western stuff for any aficionado of the genre. The scenery, the dodgy characters, the morally flexible hero, stand-offs and sensational music and superb direction.

Ennio Morricone's score is one of the very best ever committed to film. Truly outstanding. It is a joke that it did not win the Academy Award for Score (it wasn't even nominated).

Clint, Eastwood, Eli Wallach and Lee Van Cleef provide suitable and exciting performance as the 'good', 'ugly' and 'bad' in this bonanza of a western! The last sequence in the graveyard is one of the greatest scenes in the history of cinema and a breathtaking finale to this great western masterpiece. All credit to Leone for directing such a scene in a breathtaking, pulsating manner.

Flawed, and perhaps a bit too long but a classic nonetheless.

9/10

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Number 1 - 1951

Top 5 - 1950s

Top 100 - American Films of All Time

"Stella!... Hey Stella!"

Tennessee Williams' sexually charged play is given a superb adaptation by Elia Kazan with a screenplay from Williams. Blance Du Bois is Vivien Leigh in a powerhouse performance that rightly got her a second Oscar. Kim Hunter is Stella Kowalski and the amazing Marlon Brando is Stanley Kowalski, with one of his finest performances and one that should have won him the Academy Award as his performance was 'greater' than Bogart's in the African Queen. Brando brings the brutishness, roughness and volatile personality of Stanley Kowalski that is one of Cinema's defining performances. This is a film, like the play about personalities, characters, in the intoxicating city of New Orleans; it is a film about charged sexuality, strange relations, mystique, wonderful undertones and one of the greatest ensembles of actors ever displayed on film. Elia Kazan's film rightly deserves its place in the National Film Registry in the Library of Congress for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" - and this film is significant and very influential.

(Summary) As in the play, the film presents Blanche DuBois, a fading but still-attractive Southern belle whose pretensions to virtue and culture only thinly mask delusions of grandeur and alcoholism. Her poise is an illusion she presents to shield others, but most of all herself, from her reality, and an attempt to make herself still attractive to new male suitors. Blanche arrives from their hometown of Auriol, Mississippi at the apartment of her sister Stella Kowalski in the Faubourg Marigny of New Orleans, on Elysian Fields Avenue; the local transportation she takes to arrive there includes a streetcar route named "Desire". The steamy, urban ambiance is a shock to Blanche's nerves. Explaining that her ancestral southern plantation, Belle Reve in Auriol, Mississippi, has been "lost" due to the "epic fornications" of her ancestors, Blanche is welcomed with some trepidation by Stella, who fears the reaction of her husband Stanley. Blanche explains to them how her supervisor told her she could take time off from her job as an English teacher because of her upset nerves, when in fact, she has been fired for having an affair with a 17-year-old student. This turns out not to be the only seduction she has engaged in—and, along with other problems, has left Auriol to escape. A brief marriage scarred by the suicide of her spouse, Allen Grey, has led Blanche to live in a world in which her fantasies and illusions are seamlessly mixed with her reality.

In contrast to both the self-effacing and deferent Stella and the pretentious refinement of Blanche, Stella's husband, Stanley Kowalski, is a force of nature: primal, rough, brutish and sensual. He dominates Stella in every way and is physically and emotionally abusive. Stella tolerates his primal behaviour as this is part of what attracted her in the first place; their love and relationship is heavily based on powerful even animalistic sexual chemistry, something that Blanche finds impossible to understand.

The arrival of Blanche upsets her sister and brother-in-law's system of mutual dependence. Stella's concern for her sister's well-being emboldens Blanche to hold court in the Kowalski apartment, infuriating Stanley and leading to conflict in his relationship with his wife. Stanley's friend and Blanche's would-be suitor Mitch is trampled along Blanche and Stanley's collision course. Stanley discovers Blanche's past through a co-worker who travels to Auriol frequently, and Stanley confronts Blanche with the things she has been trying to put behind her, partly out of concern that her character flaws may be damaging to the lives of those in her new home, just as they were in Auriol, and partly out of a distaste for pretence in general. However, his attempts to "unmask" her are predictably cruel and violent. Their final confrontation—a rape—results in Blanche's nervous breakdown. Stanley has her committed to a mental institution, and in the closing moments, Blanche utters her signature line to the kindly doctor who leads her away: "I have always depended on the kindness of strangers", reminding us of one of the flaws that has led her to this point--relying too heavily on the attentions of men to fulfil and rescue her.

The reference to the streetcar called Desire—providing the aura of New Orleans geography—is symbolic. Blanche not only has to travel on a streetcar route named "Desire" to reach Stella's home on "Elysian Fields" but her desire acts as an irrepressible force throughout the play—she can only hang on as her desires lead her.

Devastated with her sister's fate, Stella weeps and rejects Stanley's intention to comfort her and pushes him away. As he cries her name once more ("Stella! Hey Stella!"), Stella clings to her child and vows that she will never return to Stanley again. She goes upstairs to once again seek refuge with her neighbour.

Top performances from Leigh, Hunter, Brando and the excellent Karl Malden as Harold "Mitch" Mitchell, great set design and superb direction by Elia Kazan make this film an irresistible classic.

10/10

Salò o le 120 giornate di Sodoma (1975)

Pier Paolo Pasolini's ultimate film is one of the most gruelling and disturbing films you are ever likely to see. It contains sadism, rough homosexual sex, rape, acts of cruelty, graphic violence, coprophagia and other obscenities. How can such an abhorrent motion picture be interpreted, understood, respected, appreciated? Firstly, Pasolini's picture gets credit for being a daring, mad outcry about life, society all processed in this tortuous film. Salò takes place in 1943-1944 in the miniature Fascist State established in the North of Italy by Benito Mussolini, after his retreat from Rome. The film's most evident undertone that I can notice is a graphic examination of how absolute power corrupts absolutely. 4 powerful Fascist Libertines make an agreement to go on an odyssey of debauchery, by seizing 18 good looking, healthy male and female teenagers and subjecting them to 120 days of mental, physical and sexual torture (120 Days of Sodom). The film is divided in three acts: 'Circle of Mania', 'Circle of Sh*t' and the 'Circle of Blood' - the film is increasingly unbearable to watch and as you watch this film you will wonder what its point is, if there is one, and you might be right to revile it. I felt shocked, disgusted, but intrigued by some of the strangely haunting qualities of this cruel motion picture, examining the potential infinity of human madness and savagery.

The film shows nudity, sex, rape and many other things, but not even for 1 second will you feel even remotely aroused. Pier Paolo Pasolini expertly films every sexual scene with a cold and ruthless detachment, opting for long shots in many scenes. Sex in this film is not the respectable union of two bodies, and the human body is not respected but rather 'consumed' by the despicable, amoral libertines.

This is a uniquely bizarre film. Many will not be able to bear it, others will be disgusted by it and perhaps they are justified. I saw something worthy in the whole picture, maybe I am wrong, but who cares film is so subjective, some films only cause reactions in some people that others would have never have thought of.

Perhaps a masterpiece, perhaps a vile piece of nonsense. I just thing this Italian film says something potent about humanity and society...

9/10

A Nightmare On Elm Street (1984)

Top 20 - Horror Films of All Time

Wes Craven has given us Scream, the most enjoyable and probably the best horror film of the 1990s - but before that he came up with 'A Nightmare on Elm Street', a film inspired by a newspaper article reporting the deaths of two people after horrific nightmares. There goes the idea.

The story of Freddy Krueger, a maniac who killed 20-30 children on Elm Street and was not imprisoned due to a technicality, only to be burned to hell by angry parents... However Freddy doesn't go away that easily! He comes back and haunts teenagers of Elm Street in their dreams, and if he kills them in their dreams, that's it! Bam, they are dead and gone another kill from the man with the razor blades...

Elm Street was made on an unbearably low budget ($1,800,000) and this is evident in a lot of the make-up, set design and special effects. However one should not see this as a negative. The film is fiendishly inventive, original and at times tense and disturbing. A Nightmare on Elm Street is part of a number of horror films that are actually good, effective and disturbing. Modern horror films are vacuous films filled with sex, gore and the same dull premises.

One, two Freddy is coming for you... three, four better lock your door... five, six better grab your crucifix, seven, eight better stay up late, nine, ten never sleep again...

A modern horror classic.

8/10

Doubt (2008)

Number 1 - 2008

John Patrick Shanley adapts his Pulitzer Award winning play to the big screen with success, selecting a fine cast, that enable the film to become the magnificent motion picture that it is. This is one of the very best pictures of the year and I am hugely disappointed that the Academy has not nominated this powerful, morally inquisitive film for Best Picture. The reasons lie in the fact that the film is 'small' and does not have the material or vast scope of other Best Picture nominees to catapult it into that category, although it deservedly should be there.

The film's story is simple, but its message unyielding and eternally applicable - Doubt - and the problems that can result from uncertainty. The film takes place in Saint Nicholas High School in the Bronx in 1964. It centres around the possible misconduct and sexual improprieties of Father Flynn (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) towards the only African-American student in the school, Donald Miller. Father Flynn is shown in the film to show an apparent liking to the unfortunate boy, who had no friends or support in an era where schools in America very much had de facto segregation. Sister James (Amy Adams), a young and naive teacher, observes the closeness between Father Flynn and Donald Miller. One day during Sister James' class, she receives a call in her class asking for Donald Miller to meet Father Flynn in the rectory. When he returns, Donald is distraught and Sister James notices the smell of alcohol on his breath. Later, while her students are learning a dance, she notices Father Flynn placing a white shirt in Donald's locker. On guard for unusual behavior, Sister James reveals her suspicions to Sister Aloysius, the school's strict, old-fashioned head mistress (Meryl Streep).

Aloysius becomes convinced that Miller was abused by Father Flynn and set upon destroying Flynn for his unforgivable sins. The film revolves around this issue.

Many will not see a point to Doubt and consider it a superbly acted film with little substance. However, this film has much more than might appear. It is a parable about life, mistakes, stubbornness and a nod to the rapidly changing nature of the church during the 1960s. This is a great film, an incredible picture that deserves more recognition than it has gained.

Masterpiece. Full stop.

10/10

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

Top 10 - 2008

The film is based on the 1921 short story of the same name by F. Scott Fitzgeral. David Fincher's film is about a man born with the characteristics of an 80 year old, apart from mental agility, and ages backwards, until he once again diminishes into the physical form of a child, while he suffers from dementia.

Benjamin Button was born on Armistice Day 1918 in New Orleans, Louisiana as a deformed child - his mother died in childbirth and his father horrified by the monstrosity of the newborn takes it away and drops it at the doorsteps of a elderly people's home, where Queenie(Taraji P. Henson), an African-American worker at the house raises the child and calls his 'Benjamin'. The New Orleans residence plays a key part in the film, with so many lives passing in and out. That is also where Benjamin meets Daisy and it becomes the central love affair of the film between their older counterparts (Pitt and Blanchett). Benjamin and Daisy have a very similar fade in and fade out relationship as Forrest Gump and Jenny, a film with many parallels to Button. No surprise since both were written by Eric Roth, who won an Academy Award for his great translation of Forrest Gump onto the screen.

The film begins with Daisy (Blanchett) in her hospital bed, ready to die in New Orleans, right before Hurricane Katrina hit, where her middle aged daughter reads her a thick diary, which centres around the life of Benjamin Button and her existence in his life. The structure of the film is successful and while there are a few flaws resulting from perhaps one or two overextended scenes, the 166 minute film is still probably a masterpiece.

While many have called 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' a well made film, with no real point, one critic unjustifiably calling it a 'dumbed down Forrest Gump', I disagree. The film itself is a testament to great film-making and David Fincher firstly must receive praise for constructing such a difficult film with great detail, dark tones and appropriate artistic flair. Furthermore, while the film can be labelled as a fantasy, it still a poetic journey about life, love, the process of ageing and humanity, and how as the film's tagline states (and the film itself shows) that life is measured in moments not minutes. Particularly, the last 45 minutes of the film are emotionally intense and somewhat haunting. Lastly the film passes one great obstacle that many other films fail to encompass - it is a big budget, main stream film, but also a quality motion picture.

A fine film

8/10