Do the right thing and watch this film. Like a modern day version of Federico Fellini's Amarcord, is tells the story not of a specific character, but of a ghetto street corner that is boiling with both heat and anger. Throughout a few days, we get acquainted with a large series of characters, all of whom are compelling, thanks to great direction by Spike Lee and wonderful performances by a great variety of actors. What Lee has created here is an entertaining (and never boring) look at the triviality of life. Pizza delivery boys, old men sitting in a group and discussing whatever crosses their minds, senior citizens who try to court each other, the occasional hothead; there are no heroes here, only ordinary people. Lee manages to turn their storyless lives into compelling vignettes, and even without the film's inevitably violent climax, those vignettes alone would have ensured the film's quality.

That it does end with violence turns Do the Right Thing into something out of the ordinary: a film that can both entertain us on a superficial level and make us think for a long time about the society we live in. Two decades have passed since its release, but on an emotional level, it is if it was released two days ago. It hasn't dated one bit. Chronologically, it precedes even the great Boyz n' the Hood as far as honest portrayals of the black lower class goes. Since the release of those two films, Hollywood has increasingly become better at showing the hardships of minorities, and while many of these outputs may have been great, few of them have managed to carve a position in my memory as vividly as Do the Right Thing. It is not just an important film, but also one that can entertain, and that it does in large quantities.

- Dantes Inferno. 

(in reply to rawlinson)

Blurb to come

(in reply to rawlinson)

Quite simply the best buddy movie ever made, as well as a strong contender for best action-comedy to boot. Robert De Niro is a bounty hunter trying to fulfill a contract to get an ex-Mob accountant from New York to LA before his former cronies or the police catch up with him. And that's it. From this fairly standard premise come some of the finest male interactions ever captured on screen – the chemistry between De Niro's hardbitten and permanently short-tempered ex-cop and Grodin's loquacious businessman is hard to beat. In fact, the humour relies on the brilliantly convincing performances each put in, which allows for some rather unexpected and touching moments (their visit to Jack's ex-wife stands out), as well as the funnier ones ("You have two emotions: silence and rage"). Therein lies the irresistible pull of Midnight Run – it's a brilliant comedy with real heart behind it, yet one which, like the zig-zagging journey of its protagonists, never takes the conventional route.

Best scene: Jack and Jonathan, short of funds, pose as FBI counterfeit agents to relieve a bar owner of a few fifties. Outstanding timing from both actors makes this a pitch-perfect set piece.

- TheDudeAbides

(in reply to rawlinson)

It's deliciously fitting that it's Dustin Hoffman in the central role of struggling actor Michael Dorsey, an actor struggling because of his argumentative streak with directors and fellow actors. Hoffman is notorious for his intense and combative way of working, and so is therefore a perfect fit for an actor who, hilariously, has a fit of rage over the logical way of playing a tomato. He's also quite brilliant and convincing as Dorothy Michaels, the woman he dresses up as to fake his way into daytime hospital soap. In fact, all the cast are quite superb - Bill Murray as his sardonic flatmate with a permanently raised eyebrow at his crossdressing antics, Teri Garr as his best friend and fellow struggler, Dabney Coleman as the sleazy director Michael/Dorothy ends up working for and Charles Durning as the father of his co-star, Jessica Lange, who develops a substantial crush on Dorothy. The only mystery is that the one person to walk away with an Oscar in this was Lange, when Garr was the far more deserving nominee in the category. Anyway, it's full of great lines, superb comic moments and Pollack's direction is light and zippy making this one of the best studio comedies of the 80s.

- Matty_b

(in reply to rawlinson)

SECOND. BEST. COENS. COMEDY. EVER.

- Deviation

(in reply to rawlinson)

Carpenter's 1986 action romp is an odd film in the way it presents traditional Hollywood heroism. Here, the brawny caucasian alpha male coming to save the day is the uncouth, thick-as-a-brick truck driver Jack Burton, played to perfection by Kurt Russell. He stands around looking big and imposing, but the moment the action heats up, he's fumbling on the sidelines with the safety on and his Asian friend Wang Chi stepping in to save the day. He's a clumsy, self-aggrandising mess, given power by the naive white folk (at one point, reporter Margo tells Jack he's not "a one-man army" while trying to dissuade him from going into Lo Pan's hideout, conveniently ignoring the group of Asian warriors going in with him) and being heroic usually in the most lucky of ways. His fellow caucasians don't fare much better, Kim Cattrall being a jabbery mess who can't help but state the obvious, and Margo being useless. But then, that's kind of the point - the tropes are subverted, the heroes are not Mighty Whitey but the Asian locals. It's an interesting approach to the typical action film, and Carpenter handles it without ever seeming overwhelmingly judgmental of the status quo, with Burton still an endearing character regardless, his goofiness making him fun to watch and a good comic foil to the more serious and interesting Wang Chi. On top of this excellent subversion of the norm, Carpenter's film is wholly enjoyable, with enough magic, sorcery, fighting and humour to go around and then some. It's ridiculous, but it's too much fun to be anything other than great.

- Pigeon Army

(in reply to rawlinson)

In terms of startlingly effective war films, the best tend to focus on the effects of the war rather than the battles themselves. While exceptions do exist (The Thin Red Line), this rule holds for most of the greats. The Killing Fields is a case in point, as little to no fighting is actually seen, but the results and implications cast a shadow throughout the entire film. It helps that for the most part the war is a significant background event; the initial plot concerns a journalist trying to get a story and his interpreter helping him despite the danger. The early segments of the film deal with the actuality of the civil war against the sanitised version the world sees, and portrays it with stunning realism. The brutality of the war is obvious, but the film manages to avoid rubbing it in our faces or becoming overly preachy. And when things worsen and the Khmer Rouge move in to where are protagonists are, the simple act of securing a passport becomes a matter of life and death in one of the greatest 20 minutes of film I’ve seen.

Where the film truly excels, though, is when the two protagonists get separated-Sydney wins international acclaim while Pran is sent to a forced labour camp. The scenes in the camp are chillingly realistic, with scenes of indoctrination that are effective in their simplicity, and the cutting back to Sydney underscores the brutality. The film also admirably avoids lionising or demonising Sydney-he’s clearly distraught about his inability to find Pran, but is also aware that he may have put his own self-interest above his friend. This is helped by Sam Waterson’s performance, he makes what could have been a simple character much more conflicted.

Put simply, this is not just a great war movie, but a great movie, dealing with issues like genocide, journalistic integrity and totalitarian regimes without ever becoming an “issue movie”.

BEST SCENE: Attempting to get a passport for Pran, which is 20 minutes of pure tension. It rapidly cuts between the efforts of about five people all trying to save Pran, suffering setbacks and problems, but finally succeeding...but failing at the last hurdle. The look on Pran’s face as he realises it was all for nothing is just heartbreaking.

- Rebel Scum

(in reply to rawlinson)

A funny, scintillating, human film about Chuck Yeager and the space race. Kaufman takes two different subjects - Yeager was briefly considered for the seven astronauts to go into space - and weaves them together so well that it feels like it's one story being told, rather than two different, parallel ones. The acting is superb, the cinematography is stunning, the score is rousing and chest-beating in its excellence, and the film's a triumphant, brilliant testament to the human spirit. A brilliant film, no two ways about it.

- Pigeon Army.

(in reply to TRM)

Mainly for the kids, but dark and witty enough to survive an adult viewing too. Terry Gilliam’s visual flair comes to the forefront, whilst the fantastic comedic styling of John Cleese, Michael Palin, Ian Holm and strangely Sean Connery drive this towards a watchable and exciting climax.

- Piles

(in reply to TRM)

Blurb coming soon

(in reply to rawlinson)

Blurb coming soon

(in reply to rawlinson)

Thematically different, by stylistically much the same, Down by Law possibly marks the end of the first part of Jarmusch's carrer. It does carry a trademark that runs through much of his work - people who wouldn't usually be together, thrown together by circumstance. We saw it with every Character Allie met in Permenant Vacation, it was true of Willie and Ava in Stranger than Paradise.
Here it concerns three men, a pimp called Jack (John Lurie again, playing a complete flip on his previous Jarmusch character), who is seemingly doing well but is set up by an enemy and is wrongly put away on some kind of child abuse charge, a DJ called Zack(Tom Waits), who at wits end after being kicked out by his girlfriend, agrees to take on a seemingly normal job for a rough looking gangster, and ends up being pulled over by the police, and Roberto - most referred throughout the film as Bob - an Italian who has learned English by writing down quirky phrases people say in his notebook. Roberto is often comic relief, but we are told he is the only one who commited his crime - he killed a man.
The film opens as if its a crime film, we see Zack and Jack set up for thier inevitable falls - but basically its a prison movie. No more than that, its just a story of people, unlikely people bonding, and it probably is Jarmusch's best realisation of that. The three end up sharing a cell - and they have scrapes - particuarly Jack and Zack who have a relationship of convienience rather than of comfort. They also have close times, in a very funny scene, the moody Zack reveals to Jack he's a DJ, and Jack gets him to do a few radio skits for him before commenting "whats wrong with you? Its like getting blood from a stone getting you to talk, and yet you're a DJ?"
For awhile then, the story is a series of vignettes in the prison, day on day how they cope. There is a touching scene where, when playing cards, Roberto announces that "I scream, you scream, we all scream, for ice-cream" - a phrase he picked up and put in his book - which causes a riotious scene where Jack and Zack get the whole prison shouting the simple phrase. Like all classical stories, Down by Law, though is a story in three acts. The first act is the set-up the commiting of the crime, the second is thier time in jail, and the third, eventually inspired by Roberto's love of American Jail movies is thier escape - directly into a New Orleans swamp and trying to get away - from the law and from each other.
Inevitably cracks in the relationship form - espiecially when they find a shack which looks identical to thier prison cell (which trivia fans, actually had the bunk beds already, and John Lurie's line "this looks a little too familiar" was ad-libbed) but the three sort of half to stick together, at least for awhile. And ultimately, for all its Noir-Fairy-Tale-Crime-Prison movie looks, its about people, and what people talk about, which is what Jarmusch is interested in ultimately.
It is, incedently, the first of many collaborations between Jarmsuch and cinamatographer Robby Múller, and the latter adds a slow-moving bit of camera work, that looks fantastic, while not being too far away from Jarmusch's previous work. It fact it adds a certain elegance and detail that makes the film a little more vivid, for me at least.
The score plays a slightly more distant point of view than in Stranger or PV, but it is provided, somewhat unusually by the two musican leads. Lurie again provides all the incedental music, while Waits songs like Jockey full of Bourban feature loudly in the soundmix.
Down by Law is one of Jarmusch's finest efforts and good place to start - along with Stranger than Paradise - on his work. It comes highly reccomended from me.

- Rhubarb

(in reply to rawlinson)

Jeff Bridges plays Richard Bone, a bit of a playboy whose car breaks down in an alleyway late one rainy night. He sees another car and a mysterious man dumping something in the alley. The next day, the body of a young girl is found there.  Bone spots someone the same day who he recognises from the alley the night before, the only trouble is it's a wealthy and respectable businessman, J.J. Cord. This sparks the interest of Bone's friend, Alex Cutter (John Heard), a bitter, one-eyed, loud-mouthed, disabled war veteran with a taste for alcohol and a desire to take down Cord.

Cutter's Way is one of the greatest and most overlooked crime/noir films of the 80s, a paranoid masterpiece that also works as a cry of rage for a generation destroyed by the Vietnam war. It's also about the injustice and social divides in American life that can lead to traumas like that war. Like the best noir, it's about world building as much as it is about characters, but while the classic noir lurks in shadows, this is bathed in sunlight and high society, but the underneath of this California paradise is as rotten as anything you find in the back alleys and dive bars of 40s noir. Cutter, Bone and Cutter's wife Mo (A heartbreaking Lisa Eichhorn) are interlopers in this rich kid's playground, and Cutter is intent on burning the whole thing to the ground. The most damning commentary on the world created is that it takes men like Cutter and Bone to stand up for what's right, in any other film, these guys would be the villains.

The characters feel lived in, you believe they've been pissing each other off for a long time. One review described Cutter as a character out of a Tom Waits song, and you can feel that boozy moral ambiguity coming from him in waves. Heard is astonishing as Cutter, how he could fall from the likes of Between the Lines, Chilly Scenes of Winter and this to nothing roles like Kevin's dad in Home Alone is a shocking display of the way talent can so easily be wasted. How Alex Cutter didn't become an icon of 80s cinema, especially when you consider some of the dull, cliched work that became celebrated, is astonishing. He's caustic, cynical, bitter, but with great humour, charm, and his own sense of justice. In fact, I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't come out of this film liking Cutter.

Heard dominates the film Cutter is a once in a lifetime role. He should have easily taken an Oscar for his performance. But as much praise as Heard often gets, Bridges is just as vital to the success of the film. Bridges has become so celebrated as an actor over the last few years that it's easy to forgot just how overlooked he was, and how unsung his work actually was, especially through the 70s were he perfected the sense of a man who should have had the world at his feet, but was actually lost and adrift. If anything his work here is the equal of Heard's, it's just that Bone is a more subtle role with less big moments. Eichhorn is also astonishing, more than holding her own as Mo, in fact she gives one of the great female performances of the decade.

The film is as fuck you in its stance as Cutter himself. There's no attempt to make these characters into loveable heroes, or to try and make anything easy on the audience. It's a melancholy, moody film, never giving in to the big crowd-pleasing moments that were demanded in the early 80s. You have to think that if the film had come out five years earlier it'd be held in the same esteem as a Taxi Driver or Network, dark films that also feature cracked characters on their own moral missions. It's an intricate, complex work, one that refuses to ever take the easy path or reach out for audience sympathy. No wonder it wasn't a hit.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

The best way I can describe The Burbs is that its probably the ultimate horror film that all the family can watch.  Joe Dante is probably the only director alive that can get the balance of horror right when it comes family orientated scares and while his 1989 effort does not quite match the chill of last years The Hole, its still an almighty fun film that is now regarded as one of the best cult movies of all time.

The fun is because in between the gentle fare, a dark side emerges, given the viewer a glimpse of sublime horror but then just has it pokes it head out, it goes back into the shadows, The Burbs is a rightful tease that would frustrate if it was not for the huge beaming smile that you had across your face.  It helps that the film is rich full of talent that you can not help but love.  Tom Hanks was beginning to test the water away from the likes of Big and while the world was not yet ready for his life of a box of chocolates or his trip into space, The Burbs was a great middle ground to move into adult fare.

Yet The Burbs for all its dark side starts like a normal film, one of Parenthood comparisons that fools you into thinking of a sitcom setting, where the laughs would come from adult set-pieces and of Tom acting a fool.  If you have never seen the film before or even set eyes on it, then you be surprised at how quickly the film changes tone.  We start with a look at the burbs, the street in which Ray (Hanks) is standing outside, talking in the chaos that surrounds him.  We see a combat wearing Rumsfield (Bruce Dern) taking care of his lovely green lawn while his wife sunbaths in the background.  His clean lawn ruined by the dog next door who has taken to using it as a toilet which results in an argument with the owner Walter (Gale Gordon) who wears the most ridiculous toupee in cinema history.  This feud first thing in the morning, upsets Rumsfield's usual tradition of raising the American Flag which stands proud on a pole outside his house.

Also watching all this unfold is Art (Rick Ducoommun) Ray's friend, who spends all day drinking and nothing else.  The very young Corey Feldman lives further down the street, his character Ricky likes to party and cause mischief but a good boy at heart.  Its a mixture of characters that you can help but feel the energy come from the screen, the chemistry is electric and one of the reasons why the film is still popular to this day, if the actors seem to be having fun, then it transcends through the screen and it seems through out that Hanks and Dern are really having a blast.

The chaotic life that lives on that street seems calm until the only house which is empty gets new residents and what started as a mid life crisis comedy soon transpires into something else all together.

The moment the difference of tone starts to develop you can pin point, its what sets The Burbs from a typical comedy to that of something special.  I am talking about the night scene in which after the residents move in and the regulars try to guess who are they and what they like, Art turns to Ray and starts to tell him a story about a local Ice Cream Seller who went by the name Skip.  One of the greatest moments in horror is the time when Phoebe Cates tells the story of when her father tried to surprise her one Christmas in Dante's earlier effort Gremlins.  It really is a dark and quite disturbing moment and one that everyone remembers for it being so "dark" in film that was being tagged for children.  Kudos towards Dante for nearly matching that effort, because when Ray starts to tell the story of Skip, its a time for all horror fans to rejoice and somehow the film grabs hold and shakes out the build up of comedy and sprinkles the dark side that you can not help but marvel.

The Klopeks move in and soon strange noises are heard in the middle of the night,  The guess work begins and soon the film shows the power of the imagination.  Who are these people?  What are they doing in that house?  Its plays on the human instinct.  Everyone who has lived on the same street for years are always wary when new people arrive, and its a need for you to know their in and outs, so when they keep themselves to themselves, its only a matter of time that rumours begin.  Things are not helped when a toupee is found and Walter is missing and the regulars begin to suspect the Klopeks of wrong doing which results in the gang breaking into their home when they know they are not there, but what mystery lies in the basement, and are Klopeks just normal oddballs or blood thirsty killers?  Its going to be fun to find out!

The film is so simple with design that you can not help but be delighted. An opening logo of the Universal Pictures sign that morphs into the film is the start that you know something special is happening here, and while the lack of blood and probably scenes of gore will make diehard fans judge this as nothing more than a Goosebumps extended episode, they are in fact missing the point.  The intelligence is in the cracking dialogue and the build up of suspense, we also get clever riffs on previous horror classics that will thrill you with delight.  Rosemary's Baby and The Texas Chainsaw Massacre are two that come to mind when writing this review.

The Burbs is a showcase of a talent on top of their form, from the cast to the director and its to their credit that for a film twenty two years old, still feels fresh to this day and with the concept of Paranoia running through the veins, how more appropriate to today's standards when all we do is complain  that Big Brother is watching!

- HughesRoss

(in reply to rawlinson)

From Sixteen Candles to The Breakfast Club to Ferris Bueller's Day Off, John Hughes really unleashed some ungodly shite on the film-going public. Not only that, he managed to churn out the most loathsome series of teen leads imaginable. So it's surprising that not only is Planes, Trains and Automobiles a good film, it's actually a great one. A large part of the success is down to the lead pairing, Steve Martin and John Candy, doing their best Laurel & Hardy routine. Martin is Neal Page, a stressed executive desperate to get home to his family in Chicago for Thanksgiving. A series of mishaps leave Page stranded in New York and trying various means of transportation to get home. Along the way he meets Del Griffith (John Candy) a big lug of a travelling salesman, a nice guy but one who seems destined to destroy every opportunity that comes Neal's way. Some of the scenes in Planes, Trains... have rightly gone down in comedy legend, from the uncomfortable night the duo spend in a motel to Martin's rant at a car rental agency. It's not perfect, Hughes' sentimental streak absolutely destroys the ending, but for most of the running time it's a brilliant piece of comedy.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

I can imagine there was a lot of controversy about Heathers when it was released considering its plot revolves around the apparent glamorisation of teen suicide. However, as is nearly always the case, there is more than meets the eye. It is more about the cliques of high school life, and to a lesser extent the insincerity of some people when they are confronted with death.

In Westerburg High School, the Heathers rule with an iron fist, making life hell for whoever they consider to be a loser. One of the girls, Veronica (Winona Ryder), is tired with this life and is torn between being a popular and actually being a nice person. It is at this point she meets JD (Christian Slater), a James Dean-esque new student, and they are immediately infatuated with each other. The film really gets going here as the couple accidentally kill the leader of the Heathers and semi-intentionally (on Veronica’s part at least) kill two homophobic footballers, and manage to make them look like suicides.

The aftermath of these killings is realised very well. They are lionised after their death and their general nastiness is forgotten about in a sea of faux grief (“Suicide gave Heather depth, Kurt a soul, and Ram a brain”), and their suicides are seen as some sort of hip movement. The adults are possibly even worse, with teachers arguing over how much time given for students to grieve (“I'd be willing to go half a day for a cheerleader”).
While there is solid support the film is carried by its two leads. Ryder is genuinely excellent as the girl with the vague ambition to change the social order at her school, but without the will to do it. Even better perhaps is Christian Slater, the outsider who has an undercurrent of crazy just waiting to bubble up to the surface.

While it runs out of steam near the end and some of the dialog is a bit grating, it’s still a really witty film and its influence can still be felt today whether it be in films like Mean Girls or the scripts of Diablo Cody. I definitely think everyone should watch this at least once.

- paul_ie86

(in reply to rawlinson)

As well as the pleasure of noting the A-Z of British actors that have all got a part in Mackenzie's gangster flick (Paul Barber, Paul Freeman, Dexter Fletcher, Derek Thompson, PH Moriarty, Pierce Brosnan, Karl Howman and others), it boasts a none-more-80s soundtrack that veers between brilliance and utter cheese, and a towering performance by Bob Hoskins as Harold Shand, as the London crime lord attempting to gain American partnership for land expansion who finds his plans disrupted by a campaign of bloody violence waged against him. Hoskins has never been a subtle actor, but is perfect for Shand, strutting through the film with a swagger and arrogance that tells its own story of how, in his own words, he now "owns London". It's a brutal, bloody film with a dark-hearted malice and wit at its centre. It's pretty cartoonish, but in this context that's fine, and it works superbly well. And the justly-lauded final sequence where SPOILERS Shand is abducted and driven away to meet his presumably nasty fate is indeed a stellar bit of silent acting from Hoskins, with a whole myriad of emotions pouring across his face for a close up of what feels like five minutes.

- Matty_b

Another extraordinary British gangster film, this time with Bob Hoskins as fearsome crime boss, Harold Shand. Shand is an old school London gangster, looking to move into the 80s by becoming a businessman. He plans to get backing from the Mafia to renovate the London docklands to provide a venue for the Olympic Games. His plans are being torn apart by a series of murders on his organisation. The film focuses around Harold's desperation to stop his enemy and secure his new life as a legitimate businessman.

The film has an impressive cast, including a great performance from Helen Mirren, but the film belongs to Bob Hoskins. Hoskins has the face of a 30s gangster, he would have fit in easily with Cagney or Edward G. Robinson and it's easy to imagine him machine-gunning down his enemies with manic glee. Long Good Friday isn't his greatest performance, nothing can touch Pennies from Heaven, but it's his best cinema work, and the final scene, as the truth slowly dawns on a wordless Hoskins, is his greatest single moment of acting. He lifts what could have been a run-of-the-mill gangster drama into something nearly Shakespearean. 

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

- Homer Simpson esq

(in reply to TRM)

Antonio Bay is celebrating its 100th anniversary. On what should be a joyous time for the small fishing town, the local priest discovers the dark history of murder that the town was founded on. Six of the founders of Antonio Bay deliberately sunk a ship of lepers. Now the lepers have returned from the grave to seek revenge.

The Fog is often seen as the weak link in John Carpenter's early career.  Coming between Halloween and Escape From New York (with the exception of a couple of t.v. movies) its often overlooked in their favour. It's important that the tradition the film stems from is understood. The opening scene sets the tone of the film, a ghost story told around a campfire to a group of children. The Fog is Carpenter's attempts to create a cinematic version of a literary ghost story.  The storyteller (John Houseman in a cameo role) is named Machen, a nod to Arthur Machen, one of the greatest horror writers who ever lived, and a hugely influential figure. The film also includes nods to H.P. Lovecraft and many critics have seen it as a very Lovecraftian tale. Personally I always felt as if it could have been adapted from a short story by William Hope Hodgson. Hodgson's  ghost stories often took place at sea, and The Fog feels like it could settles nicely alongside his work.

The fairly large ensemble cast work well together. Adrienne Barbeau is the particular stand-out as the town's dj. Having her broadcast from the lighthouse was a nice touch. It ties her in directly with the town's history while allowing her to almost act as a narrator figure.

The film's slow pace has led to some criticism, but the pacing isn't that far removed from Halloween. The power of The Fog doesn't come from the sudden ghost attacks, if anything the more graphic death scenes can break the mood of the film at times. The chill of The Fog lies in what we can't see, not in what we can. Much like Halloween, the film is at its most effective when the characters are being stalked. The fog effects are superbly spooky while the atmospheric cinematography adds to the haunting feel of the film.

I don't delude myself into thinking that The Fog is for everyone, fans of the more action-packed Carpenter films may be very disappointed. But those willing to lose themselves in its chilly atmosphere and those with a deep love for classic ghost stories will find many rewards here.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to TRM)

Has a film, not just a war film but any film, as troubling as "Come and See" ever been shot? If it has, I'm yet to see it, and I'm not sure I really want to, because Elem Klimov's masterpiece – that sits just on the verge of my top twenty – is a disturbing and challenging look at World War II. The story sees a young boy, Florya (Aleksei Kravchenko), thrust into the atrocities of the war in Belorussia. He's part of an unequipped Russian resistance movement and witnesses the horrors of war, losing his innocence and eventually his mind. Let's talk about Aleksei Kravchenko, who is hypnotizing as the lead. An inexperienced teenage actor, he manages to create a sense of childlike innocence at the film's beginning and, eventually, hysteria and terror in the film's climax. This truly is one of the greatest child turns, delving deep within himself and finding a performance miles more mature than his years. But it is Klimov who is the true star, creating some of the most memorable, shocking, and downright disturbing visuals of any film. His directional style is both angry and elegant, using both brute force and eloquence to communicate his point. In that way, then, it's similar to "Apocalypse Now" if I were to have to liken it to an American war film, in that it can flit willingly from the breath-takingly beautiful to the gut-wrenchingly horrific within an instant. It really is a shame that Elem Klimov decided to never make a film again after this one, citing that he "lost interested in making films" and that that "everything that was possible I felt I had already done". It's a shame, because anything half as good as this one would have been appreciated, but I guess he would have always been remembered for this, the greatest war film that has ever been made.

- Piles.

Harrowing, shocking and quite mental. The girl, Glasha (Olga Mironova) in the early part of the film going off her loop, the huge background noise whilst the boy, Florya, is deafened by the bomb blast, the swamp scene, the shooting of the cow, the burning of the barn. Aleksei Kravchenko did exceptionally well for a first time actor, portraying fear for such a large part of the film. A very dark film, but without a doubt worth a watch.

- Gram123

(in reply to TRM)

Landis' endless in-joke smash-em-up is one of the pedigree SNL spin offs and has deserved every one of its hard earnt years of growing fondness. It's silly, endlessly quotable, cameo tastic, and with some great musical interludes (it must be reiterated, though, that it's NOT a musical) and, surprisingly, greatly improved by the even longer director's cut (which reintroduces some great jokes, entire sub-plots, and explains plot holes already in existence).

- great_badir

(in reply to TRM)

Blurb to come

(in reply to TRM)

Based on the board game that surely played a large part of everyone's youth, a group of strangers are invited to an isolated mansion one night. The six guests, along with the butler, maid and cook, are being blackmailed by the mysterious Mr. Boddy. Soon after Boddy arrives, the extent of his blackmail is revealed, and all the guest are presented with a murder object. The lights go out and Boddy is killed. Everybody in the house had the motivation and means to kill Boddy, so who is the murderer? Clue is the kind of film that should have been atrocious, but thanks to some fine casting and a good screenplay it becomes all rather enchanting. It obviously takes its inspiration from old dark house style comedy horrors, and in particular from Neil Simon's excellent Murder by Death, but manages to form its own identity by setting the film against the backdrop of McCarthy era paranoia. With pitch-perfect performances from an excellent cast, with Madeline Kahn, Tim Curry and Michael McKean as the most obvious stand-outs, Clue is atmospheric, hilarious and it never lets the knowing nature of the concept overpower the film itself.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

Radio Days is one of Allen's most personal films, a lightly fictional version of his own childhood in New York. The film explores, through a series of comedic vignettes, the influence of radio on both his life, and that of his family. Allen himself narrates the story of his younger self and the stories of family life are mixed in with tales of the radio stars of the era. There's no real plot, there are continuing storylines, such as that of Mia Farrow's aspiring radio star, but mostly this is a lightly comic slices of family life.

Radio Days is pure nostalgia, and for some it may be a little too sentimental, but I always found it lacking in sentimentality and filled with warmth and joy. Ebert called it Allen's Amarcord. He was right.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

Kiki is a teenage witch in training, she takes part in the tradition of witches that dictates she leaves her family to live alone for a year, in order to practise her supernatural skills. She sets off with a few possessions, her broom, and her familiar, a black cat named Jiji. Kiki finds herself in a small city where she determines to prove herself as a capable witch. She finds work as a courier for the local bakery, delivering the goods by broom and learns to take responsibility for herself.

It's a sweet story, simple and pretty basic by Ghibli standards. Not that basic has to be bad and sometimes the simplest tales are the best. Miyazaki doesn't seem to be interested in external conflict here. Kiki is looked upon as an outsider, but only in the way that all strangers in a small town are. Even though Kiki is looked upon with a little wonder for her powers, she's not treated as a freak. The film doesn't follow the other possible route of giving her bullies to overcome, or having her long for acceptance among the locals. She just gets on with things, working through her inner conflicts in order to grow.

And that's what interests Miyazki here. In many ways this is a Ghibli film with more in common with Whisper Of The Heart than Spirited Away. The supernatural here is always a secondary concern. The focus is on Kiki and how she grows up and learns to accept responsibility for her life. The story is in the characters, their warmth, their depth, their soul. It also manages to avoid the trap of becoming overwhelming sweet, Miyazaki delights in the tranquil moments. For all of the sweetness in the tale, there's also a lot of thoughtfulness. There's a sadness and a bittersweet quality to the story that brings levels of shade to the film that are often missing in live-action films, let alone animated ones. For some reason, Kiki's Delivery Service often seems to be regarded as somehow lesser in comparison to Miyazaki's other work. I've never really understood why. It's a beautiful, serene and surprisingly mature work, one of the great director's finest accomplishments.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

In what may be the most divisive film of this round, Possession follows the relationship breakdown between Anna (Isabelle Adjani) and Mark (Sam Neill, in the same year he played that jerk Damien in the Omen III), after Anna confesses she has been having an affair. After this reveal, the rest of the film is essentially a visualisation of emotions which have been repressed for years. Mark, after having been emotionally distant and just generally acting like an idiot, focuses on his own insecurities and 'creates' Anna's lover in his mind, who is superior in every way. He also sees Helen (also played by Adjani), his fantasy of Anna, who is emotionally the polar opposite of Anna at that point – stable, calm and, seemingly, asexual.
Anna, however, sees the damage the break-up is doing to their son and has her hatred towards her husband turned in on herself, and her self-loathing would, inevitably, lead her to have sex with a tentacle creature.

Anyway, to say any more of the plot would be to spoil the surprise and pleasant, calm experience of watching this film. Also, the fact that Possession is set in Berlin in the early 1980s is a clear indication of Zulawski's intentions when discussing division.

Something that is always brought up when Possession is mentioned is the performances – especially Adjani's. One scene in particular, a lengthy one in the subway, will linger long in the memory of anybody who watches it. Of course, Sam Neill's performance

Comfortably one of the most surreal and intense films I've ever seen, Possession is completely unique and more than deserves to be in the hall of fame.

- Fritzlfan

(in reply to rawlinson)

If Akira has one thing going against it, it's the pacing. For a film that's two hours long, it certainly seems to drag at points, particularly in the final half, with Tetsuo's rampage through Neo-Tokyo a little stop-start and drawn out a little too much. That said, Akira is a nevertheless thrilling and deep piece of sci-fi excellence, with excellent character work, great setpieces and an unpredictable, twisty-turny storyline that, while oddly paced as mentioned before, is still gripping. However, the film's biggest asset is its art, with possibly the most satisfyingly well-realised dystopic environment I've seen put to film. It's a cliche to say it, but Neo-Tokyo feels like another character in the film, this dark, ugly presence whose malignant fingers loom over every frame, encroaching on every character moment and seemingly driving the story to the conclusion where it dies. It's an absolutely stunning-looking film, and it doesn't hurt that everything else is pretty excellent in it as well.

- Pigeon Army.

(in reply to rawlinson)

Louis Winthorpe III (Dan Aykroyd) has wealth, power, an attractive fiancée, and a job at a successful company, working for the Duke brothers, Randolph (Ralph Bellamy) and Mortimer (Don Ameche). Billy Ray Valentine (Eddie Murphy) has nothing, he's a dirt-poor hustler, who gets arrested early in the film because Winthorpe insists he tried to rob him. Unknown to both, The Duke Brothers make a bet on the issue of nature versus nurture to see if they can make a gentleman out of Billy Ray and a criminal out of Louis. To do so, they have Louis arrested for theft and drugs, fired from his job, thrown out of his house and left penniless, while Billy Ray is hired and given access to all of Louis' belongings. When Billy Ray discovers the Dukes' scheme, he and Louis, with the help of a prostitute named Ophelia (Jamie Lee Curtis) and Winthorpe's former butler, Coleman (Denholm Elliott) start to look for revenge. Probably the best film Eddie Murphy ever made, it's also a wonderful reminder of the time when Dan Aykroyd was rightly considered a comedy genius. There's also a series of flawless supporting performances, with Elliott especially deserving praise. It's a little sad to see how much talent from this film (both male leads, the female lead and the director) have been wasted down the years, but it's still one of the greatest comedies ever made.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to rawlinson)

A Grand Day Out introduced the world to the legendary pairing of Wallace and Gromit. Wallace is an eccentric Yorkshire inventor who lives with his far more intelligent dog, Gromit. Both master and dog love cheese and when they discover they've run out one night they do the only logical thing. They build a rocket to spend a day trip at the Moon, because everyone knows the moon is made of cheese. When setting up their picnic on the moon they discover a strange robotic creature who looks like a vending machine. They put a coin in the machine but nothing happens, but when they leave it springs to life. It gets agitated by the mess left by Wallace & Gromit, but displays longing when it discovers a skiing magazine. The machine then hatches a plan to get to earth to learn how to ski.

While it may seem slightly amateurish compared to later Wallace & Gromit efforts, A Grand Day Out is an effortlessly charming introduction to our beloved heroes. It may lack a little something by having a more sympathetic villain than later outings (you can't even call him a villain really, Wallace & Gromit do mess up his home, and all he really wants is to learn to ski) but it has the same laid-back dry wit and superb observation of details (such as the design of their rocket, complete with arm chairs) and it uses the same warped but understandable logic as the likes of Tex Avery. Top it all off with voice work from the excellent as ever Peter Sallis and you have a classic cartoon that started the greatest animation series ever to come from Britain.

- Rawlinson

(in reply to TRM)