Piles
Posts: 5531
Joined: 6/8/2007
From: Whalley Range
|
#48. Requiem for a Dream (2000, Darren Aronofsky)
"Requiem for a Dream” tells the story of four linked people, all centring around Harry Goldfrab (Jared Leto). Over the course of a hundred minutes, we get to know Harry, his mother Sara (Ellen Burstyn), his girlfriend Marion Silver (Jennifer Connelly), and his best friend Tyrone Love (Marlon Wayans). All four are addicted to something, and their lives soon begin to spiral out of control under Aronofsky's assured hand. Underrated by many and overrated by so many more, "Requiem for a Dream” is a well performed, well directed film with a strong anti-drugs message at its core. Aronofsky succeeds in getting his point across for a number of reasons, the first of which being that it never at any time feels preachy. He begins with a slightly positive outlook, showing three good-looking youths with chances to succeed and avenues open to them, before slowly pulling the rug from under their feet. By showing the high that people obviously get from drugs before the fall, Aronofsky's film feels well balanced and fair, rather than a one-sided and propaganda-rous onslaught against drugs and drug-takers. When the decline does indeed set in, what we get is an unflinching, uncompromising, and really quite grim vision of four people being brought down by their own respective addictions (indeed, whilst three of them harness a penchant for Class A drugs, Sara's addiction to television and reputation are what brings her down). It may be a little heavy handed and sometimes even drawn out, but it's nice to see Aronofsky bringing some miserable, challenging imagery to a mainstream film, and the final twenty minutes in particular are perfect, as everything finally builds up to a crescendo. Aronofsky's direction feels like something from MTV but on speed, and I'm not quite sure if that' a good thing or a bad thing, and the performances are all stellar. Wayans is better than he's ever been and will ever be again (although the fact that he's been in so many films that make light of the subject matter that this film condemns kind of cheapens his presence), Connelly is incredibly brave in a role that makes her current career choices like "The Day the Earth Stood Still” and "He's Just Not That Into You” even more baffling, and Leto re-affirms that 2000 was a fantastic year for him. The star, though, is Ellen Burstyn, reflective and melancholic in the most sympathetic, naïve, and innocent performance in the entire film. Bleak and surprisingly powerful, "Requiem for a Dream” is possibly Aronofsky's best film to date. 4/5.
#53. Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009, Phil Lord and Chris Miller)
I think I'm quite possibly the last of the EMPIRE Lists and Top 10s crowd to finally see this, Sony Animation's really quite good film about a boy scientist (Bill Hader) who creates a machine that turns water into food. Even better news for Flint Lockwood is that his city has nothing but sardines for food, and so his invention makes him into a star, before back into the loser reject when half the town turns obese or high on E-numbers. I'd say this latter point is one of the flaws of the film; the genuinely inventive and quite hilarious movie feels somewhat contrived when it shoehorns some social commentary on junk food or climate change into its climax. It probably handles it better than most other non-Pixar animations, but it still feels like a preachy and unnecessary attempt to make the film a little bit more 'worthwhile'. Other flaws include the presence of Anna Faris, who wastes the potential in an otherwise good character, and the disappointing under-use of Andy Samberg. There; I'm glad I got the unavoidable but quite unimportant negatives out of the way first, because "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs” is an often-quite hilarious and visually inventive animation which finally throws the ball back into Pixar's court. It's a genuinely brave film, one which will no doubt confuse the living hell out of the children that it is apparently directed at and their parents to boot, but one which deserves kudos for actually going out on a limb and being a little different. Its climax, which takes place amongst a swirl of colour up in the meatball-laden heaven of this bizarre planet, is quite breathtaking in its psychedelic odd-ness. The general absurdity of proceedings kind of dictates that the humour won't necessarily have a one hundred per cent success rate, but it is often hilarious, with the snowball fight scene being literally uproarious. The voice cast – which also consists of the likes of Mr T, Bruce Campbell, and James Caan – fires on all cylinders, and the direction from Lord and Miller is lots of frenetic fun. It may not be perfect, but it's probably the best American non-Pixar outing since, well, since Disney's second golden age. 3/5.
#77. Invictus (2009, Clint Eastwood)
Chances are, you'll know what type of film Clint Eastwood likes to make. Of course, I'm not talking about the man who made "The Outlaw Josey Wales” (1976) or "Unforgiven” (1992); the hard-boiled, intelligent, ruthless filmmaker who made those films is probably gone for good. The man who is left, the man behind "Mystic River” (2003), "Million Dollar Baby” (2004), and "Changeling” (2008), makes films that exist in the boundaries of convention. They rely on genre conventions, intense emotion, and 'important' societal themes to get their points across. Obviously, they result in varying quality, and – unfortunately – "Invictus” is towards the lower end of Eastwood's boundaries. Throw in the clichés that come with sports movies (slow-motion, super inspiring music) and true to life stories (whatever doesn't go with Eastwood's blinkered view of the '95 world cup is thrown out), and what you have is a story we all know told in a way we all know. The performances are, by and large, fine. Morgan Freeman hasn't quite perfected the South African accent, and it often flits back to the gravitas-laden Freeman voice we all know and love, but he has such a presence about him that he's perfectly believable in the role. Matt Damon is probably even better as a man struggling to reach his destiny, struggling to make true the dream of a man more important than he is. He may lose it slightly towards the end, as the huddle-stricken team talks mount up, but for the first ninety minutes he's perfect. The problem, though, is the writing, which is so cliché-laden that the whole thing gets harder to harder to swallow. The problem is that its characters talk in monologues, which lose their impact simply because there are so, so many of them. The whole point in a climactic movie speech is that it's climactic, but here we're spoon-fed one every ten minutes. Morgan Freeman spouts off something big or important or worthwhile at regular intervals like Gandalf the Black, and although the Academy will probably love it (hell, you can even play 'spot the Best Actor' sound-byte if you wanted to), the whole set-up becomes a little patronising as the film wears on. Well performed and well directed, "Invictus” is okay to pass a couple of hours, and it will probably give half of the population a nice warm buzz that they've just watched something important and worthwhile, but it feels a little stagnant and perhaps even a little pointless. 2/5.
< Message edited by Piles -- 8/2/2010 9:35:34 AM >
_____________________________
Top 100 Moz Songs / Top 100 Films
|
Printable Version
RE: Top 100 Films I've Watched This Year: 2010 - 
) who are left without anyone close when his parents go on sojourn to Belgium. They couple tour around the US, meeting up with disparate old friends and family, trying to work out where they should move. Quite a sweet film, which brings to mind things like Jarmusch's Broken Flowers, though it's a little warmer and funnier than that film, IMO, and a more enjoyable experience than watching Mendes' previous film, Revolutionary Road. 
MR DARCY! DANCING QUEEN!
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread