#62 - The Truman Show (1998)

Well... I can't honestly say I'm dissapointed. After all, my expectations were incredibly low when I sat down to watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind last week. Eternal Sunshine was a fantastic film and I enjoyed every minute of it, and the fact that Jim Carrey's personal acting style (which I can barely stand) was extremely downplayed helped a lot. I'm not precisely saying I didn't like the Truman Show; I liked it, as a matter of fact, but Carrey's mannerisms and acting style got in the way.

Call me nitpicky, but it just pisses me off. You want to make a complete fool of yourself, Carrey? Then make another one of those mongoloid comedies you do all the time. This is a pretty dramatic film, so, really, is it so hard to take at least one fucking role seriously? Carrey plays Truman Burbank, a man unaware of the fact that he lives in a giant dome and his entire life is one big reality show. And after a series of weird events he realizes there is something wrong and eventually discovers the truth.

The film doesn't necessarily try to be funny, so why cast Carrey in the first place? There are plenty of scenes in which he is supposed to be serious or shocked; and instead laughs it out hysterically (as if he just had a mental breakdown or something). I liked the character and the concept, but the performance didn't go well with the rest of the movie.

  

"Hey look I smile like a fucking retard all the time I'm so hilarious" No, you are not.

It's a shame, because I had next to no problems with the rest of the film. The idea of a massive reality show based on just one person is a great sattire of reality television. Is the "real life" of a person really worth watching? How did they get so many people interested in watching someone, say, go to work, or take a shit? How is it exciting after 30 years? I personally can't stand reality shows and that is the main reason of why The Truman Show appeals so much to me. The entire world is more invested in someone else's life rather than their own - that is the true message behind the film. And it's great.

I also really liked the little clues that eventually hint Truman into figuring out his life is a TV show. Particularly because they also satirize how reality shows are supposed to be as realistic as possible but only come out as commercial garbage. Truman's wife is always discussing a new product out fo the blue like she was advertising it, the way everything is a routine to the point that every passerby (aka extras) is actually walking in looped cycles around every block...

  

Forced product placement at its finest. I suddenly feel a massive urge to buy kitchen appliances.

The Truman show is not a bad film by any means, and I quite enjoyed it. I just wish another actor was cast. Tom Hanks? Anyway, if you're a mindless fan of Carrey (no offense, it just grinds my gears a lot) you will enjoy it and laugh like a moron whenever he opens his big stupid mouth (sorry again, I can't help it). If you are not, Jim's lovely mannerisms don't really get much in the way, to be honest, so it's still a very enjoyable movie.

#61 - There's Something about Mary (1998)

Remember that streak of romantic comedies in the early 2000's, with gross-out humor and plenty of awkward o embarrassing situations? I really like that kind of films, so the fact that I've never seen the film that started that trend is a little surprising. There's Something About Mary is incredibly enjoyable so if you like films like Meet the Parents, you should give it a watch.

Surprise, Ben Stiller plays Ted, and awkward, shy guy who runs into weird situations where minor misunderstandings lead to major catastrophes. Where have I seen this before...? Anyway, Ted has a small fixation on Mary (Cameron Diaz), whom he was about to take to prom before one of those wacky confusions led to his dick getting stuck in his zipper. Curious about her whereabouts, a friend of his recommends a private investigator to check on her. Turns out he falls in love with her, tells Ted Mary got fat and ugly and tries to seduce her by stalking her and prentending they like the same things. Ted finds out and goes to Florida to get Mary back.

      

Deep down the premise is nothing new, but some ideas are pretty original.

The film carries over all the clichés of a romantic comedy though. Ted is your usual shy and awkward underdog, and Mary is the perfect, flawless woman that falls in love with him. It kind of pisses me off that so many movies do this. "Hey loners, if you don't have any luck with women, don't worry, just be the sweet and sincere person you are and Cameron Diaz will totally want to fuck you." I could also include all the "it's all just a huge misunderstanding" or "everything gets messed up" scenes, but you could say that the movie was one of the first films to make that style popular. And they work so well you don't really care.

The biggest strength of the film are those parts, really. There might be only five or six of them, but they are long enough to make up for it. Other comedy films, like the Naked Gun series, for instance, have a couple of these tiny disasters and it works well but this film takes it to the extreme. It's not a just bunch of hiccups the characters move on once they are done, no, one mistake leads to another, ussually as the characters try to fix it, and things keep getting worse for five minutes. Like I said, it totally loses shock value after seeing films like Meet the Parents or Along Came Polly, but they are still very entertaining. The opening scene is by far my favorite, where everything that could go wrong, goes wrong. Then there's the visually simple but still incredibly funny interrogation part.

      

And this.

There's Something About Mary was very influential to the early 2000's comedies, so if you're into those films, you will have a good time with this film. It is a very funny movie, with a basic plot and characters that leave space for gag after gag. Totally worth two hours of your life.

#60 - A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Here's another classic. I know I've been hinting Gone with the Wind a dozen times already, but it's three and a half hours long and I'm a lazy shit. Nevertheless, I am more than satisfied with this one. A Streetcar Named Desire is an extremely influential film that holds up to this day as a great film to watch.

Vivien Leigh stars as Blanche Dubois, a rich lady that has to move into her sister Stella's apartment since the family estate has apparently been "lost", much to the intrigue of her sister. Stella lives in a blue collar neighbourhood in New Orleands with her abusive husband, Stanley (Marlon Brando). Blanche meets one of Stanley's friends, Mitch, who slowly starts to figure out her past. And tension keeps growing between Blanche and Stanley, as her presence disrupts his life with Stella.

  

Yay for domestic violence.

The film has plenty of interesting subplots, all of them handled perfectly. Er, ok, maybe the credit should go to the original writer, Tennessee Williams, but the adapted screenplay and perfect cast deserve just as much praise. Stella and Stanley's odd relationship, for instance, is incredibly interesting, with Stella giving up her social status and marrying an abusive husband just for the sex, and apparently it seems to work until Blanche comes in and ruins that balance. Blanche's true past, the way she tries to hide it, and how it is revealed; Stanley's wilderness and how he reacts to Blanche's presence and pretentiousness... it is all really well handled.

And of course none of it would be half as good if it weren't for the cast. Vivien Liegh's performance is perfect, always sounding convincing no matter how melodramatic the situation gets. Stella, played by Kim Hunter, is a surprisingly interesting character, torn between her sister and her upbringing, and her husband and her new lifestyle. But Marlon Brando, of course, steals the show as Stanley. His performance, in fact, is a freaking milestone in filmmaking history. Before this film, there were rude or cynical characters, of course, but they still showed some signs of politeness or charm. Stanley is raw, unkempt, even animalistic.

  

While many moments stand out, the drunk Stanley screaming for Stella is the most memorable.

So, if you think about it, that is the film's biggest achievement.  Everything I mentioned, Stella and Stanley's relationship, Blanche's promiscuous character, the animalistic attraction Stella feels for Stanley and, well, Stanley himself; all lead towards one common theme: lust. This is one of the first films to have the balls to adress the then-controversial topic so directly. Not to mention all the domestic violence.

A Streetcar Named Desire is an extremely influential and transgressive movie, and it's a crime to overlook it. I can't pinpoint anything it does wrong: the characters and performances are fantastic, the themes and the plot are only heightened by the audacity of the filmmakers. This 60 year old film has aged wonderfully and is still very worth watching.

#59 - The Squid and the Whale (2005)

The sole reason I watched this film was to just get it over with. A friend of mine recommended it and for a while he kept asking me if I had seen it already. "Maybe later." He eventually forgot it and so did I. Until today, when I decided to give it a shot. The film is nothing special, really, but I personally enjoyed it.

One of the first films I ticked off the list was Kramer vs. Kramer (actually it was the 12th... whatever), a movie about a recently divorced couple and how they handle their situation and the child support and all that.   The premise in the Squid and the Whale is similar: both parents get a divorce, but instead of fighting over the custody of the kids, the kids take sides by themselves, leading to a lot of conflictive situations. While the overall tone of Kramer vs. Kramer was lighthearted and optimistic, the Squid and the Whale takes a more realistic, bitter approach. It may get out of hand, or get a little too sex heavy, but it's a pretty realistic depiction of a divorce and the effect it has on the family.

    

Some parts are pretty exaggerated, though. The young sibling getting drunk and passing out comes to mind.

There movie as a very distinct indie flavor, particularly the characters. Except for the younger brother, every member of the family has this hipster-like artistic taste. The father (Jeff Daniels) is a novelist whose career has declined recently; he is extremely arrogant, you know, the kind of guy that thinks he is intellectually superior than the rest but comes out as an asshole. The mother is also an author whose recently published work is more successful than that of her husband, which just adds up to the tension. Oh, and she has also been cheating on him. More than once.

Jesse Eisenberg plays the 16 year old Walt, who sides up with the father, sharing his taste for, uh, hipstery vintage stuff, and plays the guitar quite well. His brother Frank (Owen Kline) sides up with the mother and starts doing stuff kids at that age usually do when facing a divorce. Jacking off at school and drinking beer. Yeah, it was quite disturbing. Walt is the protagonist here and the most developed and interesting character, but the overall amount of attention on every member of the family is very well balanced. And there's plenty of other supporting characters, too. Summing up, it has plenty to offer as a character-driven film.

    

Anna Paquin stands out as the father's (slutty) girlfriend, among others.

Like I said, the Squid and the Whale is not a film that particularly stands out to me. It has nice characters and the theme of divorce and family conflicts is well played. It's a good film and I enjoyed it, but it's pretty forgettable.

#58 - A Beautiful Mind (2001)

A running gag in my high school class involved us suggesting our Math teacher to watch a film in class to get two hours of sleepy time. She was not that stupid and never fell for it (she was quite a good teacher too), but she kept saying "If we ever watch something, A Beautiful Mind would be a good choice". Because, really, how many non-educational films can you come up with that could relate to Math? Sadly, high school was over and we never got to see it. So I put it on the list. And let me be totally honest with you: this film is very overrated. It is a very good film, but I don't think it deserves all the praise it got.

A Beautiful Mind is a biopic on John Nash, a Nobel Prize winning mathematician played by Russell Crowe. Nash is brilliant and smart beyond belief, getting a Princeton University scholarship, coming up with a governing dynamics principle by himself,  even being hired by the US department of defense to crack encrypted Soviet messages. He also has a good personal life, having plenty of friends and ending up marrying a student of his (Jennifer Conelly). But, there is a catch. Nash is an obsessive, paranoid schizofreniac. And everything goes downhill once he is diagnosed.

 

Scribbling notes on walls: clear sign of insanity.

Despite that kind of premise, A Beautiful Mind doesn't fall into your typical "rise and fall" kind of story. Nash goes through some crappy moments but he is always trying to pull himself together throughout the film. That's one of the things I felt the movie did best: it conveyed that idea of unstability very well. It also did a good job at keeping us guessing what was real and what wasn't. Er... I guess this is the point where I stop giving away the film.

I was surprised to see Russell Crowe pull off the role of John Nash so well. After enduring my brother's massive fanatism over Gladiator (one particular week he played it on the VCR more than once a day), I can't shake the role off of him. The character itself is very interesting too; as far as I know it doesn't stick to the actual John Nash very well, but it still works. Jennifer Connelly is also really good as John's wife, and how much she managed to do with such a basic role. I also liked Paul Bettany and Ed Harris's performances, as Nash's supportive roommate and his boss, respectively.

But, if I keep saying the film is so good, why do I say it is overrated? Well, it feels like Oscar bait. No kidding, I kept imagining the trailer describing the film as "the inspiring story of a brilliant but flawed man, trying to fulfill his dreams while facing self-inflicted adversity". It sounds like an intentionally melodramatic and romantic film we have seen a billion times. And it made it, 4 Academy Awards. Including best supporting actress for Jennifer Connelly. Wait, what? Connelly is a really good actress and delivers a solid performance here, but the role itself is incredibly uninteresting.

 

This is as archetypal as the victimized but supportive housewife cliché can get. It doesn't deserve an Oscar.

Don't get me wrong: it felt like the intentionally melodramatic, formulaic and inspirational stuff that keeps wetting every film reviewer's pants, but nonetheless it is a very good film.

#57 - Carrie (1976)

Why, oh why don't we get horror flicks like this any more? Carrie is a fucking masterpiece. Ok, I will admit it has some minor issues but in general, it does everything right. I can't believe I hadn't seen it yet, given how much I like the film adaptations of Stephen King's books. The Shining and Misery are some of my favorite films and while It may be goofy or laughable right now it did scare the shit out of me as a kid. My expectations were high, and the film managed to meet them with flying colors.

Carrie, played by Sissy Spacek, is a shy girl with no friends. When she gets her first period she freaks out (since her abusive religious fanatic mother tries to keep "the sin of blood" from her). Screaming with blood all over her hands with no idea of what's going on, her classmates start mocking her until the gym teacher intervenes and put them all in detention. While some of the girls feel sorry, one even asking her boyfriend to take her to prom, one of them is extremely pissed at her and tries to get back by humiliating her at prom night. Oh, and did I mention Carrie somehow has telekinesis when she becomes stressed? It's very hard not to give away the ending so I won't describe the story any further: what I can tell you is I loved it. It is a very original premise, after all.

It's the freaking seventies. You should know what that is.

The thing this film does best is making the audience care for the characters. Trust me, you can't not feel sorry for Carrie by the time the film is done. Aside from being shy and awkward, I don't see why would anyone hurt a girl like this physically or mentally, and Sissy Spacek's performance only makes her seem more vulnerable and empathic. I found the beginning of the prom scene particularly heartwrenching: Carrie was finally being accepted, having the time of her life and pretty much being happy for the first time on her life, all while being blissfully ignorant of what was going on behind the curtain (literally).

And just like we care a lot for the protagonist, you will hate the antagonists just as much. Carrie's mother embodies everything wrong with religious fanatism, blaming all her problems on "sin", and believes strict discipline (aka constant abuse) will keep her daughter away from it. And Chris, the popular asshat that organizes the whole "prank" against Carrie, gives the word bitch a new definition.

"Look, her vagina is bleeding! Let's throw stuff at her!" (Whoops, boobies!)

But that's the biggest problem I have with Carrie. I mean, really? A horrified girl gets her first period and the immediate reaction from her classmates is laughing at her and showering her with tampons? And scheming a mastermind plan to humiliate her at prom just because she got them into detention for being heartless bitches? Come on. I know I just said it's impossible not to feel sorry for Carrie but the situation is way too surreal. Aside from that and the fact that every single character in this film is a fucking stereotype, I have no other complains.

While the situation may be a little too twisted or surreal, it rarely got in the way of the great story and characters. The "horror" part only kicks in at the end, and it never gets particularly scary, just unnerving or disturbing, but that's even better in my book. I prefer a good, non-scary story than a scary one where the horror elements get in the way of the plot. In fact, I think this is one of my favorite films in this list.

#56 - Chinatown (1974)

Whenever a film tackles a time period set a couple of decades before it, they tend to critique that era qith the current mindset. A couple of days ago I saw The Help, and while it was a great film, I foud Emma Stone's character a little out of place there; she feels like a current day person with a current day mindset that somehow travelled back in time to the 60's and unhappy with the status quo tries to change it. Chinatown, on the other hand, is a 70's film set in the 40's, and it manages to capture the feel of that era perfectly, with little to no input on the then-current mindset. And that is no easy feat.

While Chinatown doesn't have a particularly complex narrative structure, the plot can get a little bit hard to follow. Jack Nicholson plays Jake Gittes, a private investigator who gets a request from Evelyn Mulwray to check on her husband, who has been cheating on her. Turns out this Evelyn was a faker trying to destroy Mr. Mulwray's reputation, who by the way gets murdered and Gittes has to crack the mystery behind it. While the mystery is, like I said, a little too convoluted and I got mixed up more than once, I have to praise it for how well delivered it is.

 

Make sure you're not as sleep-deprived as I was when watching it.

Fuck you, college, waking me up ant 5:30 AM on a Saturday for a two hour class I hate.

The murder case involves Gittes unearthing a scheme to drain water from a plantation, only to place a reservoir nearby for lots of munnies; confilcts over family heritage and even incestual relationships. The way every clue is presented and everything eventually clicks together is fantastic. Chinatown's setting and tone are also spot-on: it genuinely feels like it's the 40's. The characters, the Noir theme, and particulalry the clothing all add up to a great tone without falling into any clichés. It never gets campy or overly romantic.

This idea carries over to the characters: the protagonist is, in Noir fashion, cynical and sarcastic most of the time, but he doesn't fall into the depressive, alcoholic and broke kind of guy we usually see starring these films: he's smart, well-spoken and moderately successful. And come on, it's Jack freaking Nicholson, he delivers the part perfectly. Faye Dunaway's character is also interesting, being needy and fragile at times but being unreliable and suspicious at the same time. The rest of the cast doesn't really stand out that much, but what the hell. With protagonists like this you don't care.

 

He can wear that without looking ridiculous, for fuck's sake. That's quite an accomplishment.

I admit, while I'm not particularly familiar with the Noir genre, this is hands down the film that represents the genre the best: taking it seriously and getting every element right (if you want pseudo-parody the best I can suggest is Grim Fandango). So if neo-noir is what you want, I can't recommend a better film than this one.

#55 - Idiocracy (2006)

Dissapointment. That's what Idiocracy is. As soon as I read the premise I was hooked and really wanted to watch this film. But right after the promising first twenty minutes of the film, it all goes downhill. Maybe if the film was done by someone other than Mike Judge it would have been a masterpiece. I do admit it's pretty funny at times but it's so exaggerated that the stink of missed potential ruined the film for me.

And it's a shame because the idea behind the film, like I said, is perfect. Ever heard of the demographic-economic paradox? Basically, intelligent, wealthy people have less offspring than poor, uneducated people. It's an issue that really troubles me and can be summed up with the film's spot on quote: "Evolution does not necessarily reward intelligence. With no natural predators to thin the herd, it began to simply reward those who reproduced the most, and left the intelligent to become an endangered species."

In this film. an average, everyday man (Luke Wilson) is frozen by the US Army along a hooker (Maya Rudolph) as part of an experiment, but the man in charge is fired and both are forgotten until they wake five hundred years in a dystopian future... where stupid people walk the earth and Terry Crews is the president of the United States. Sounds like a funny but insightful film, right? Unluckily, it falls short on both aspects. For comedic purposes (this is a Mike Judge film, after all), everyone is not just dumb: they are plain retarded. I would have preferred the film to be set, for instance, 150 years into the future instead of the whopping 500 they went with, and replacing the retards with average people that take all the shitty traits of western culture to the extreme. That way it could still be a very funny film while being a little bit more grounded in reality so the social commentary behind it is better.

 

But turns out the film can get as stupid as what it's trying to satirize.

Dissapointing as it is, it is still a decent film. While all the futuretards are so stupid they're not even funny, Luke Wilson is perfectly cast, Maya Rudolph is surprisingly entertaining and Terry Crews... pro-wrestler president. Enough said. I know I complained a lot about this alternate future being stupid, but to be honest, the one thing that bothered me was its inhabitants. Everything else about this future is great. Come on, sports drinks replacing water? Starbucks offering handjobs? Fox News being stupid? Oh, sorry, we already have the latter.

And I admit the film is pretty damn funny. Not much from the characters or the dialogue, but the sheer stupidity of the situations they run into. The punishment for political prisoners being a demolition derby; water being reserved for the toilet and everyone laughing when Luke Wilson's character asks for a sip; the health care system; all hilarious, memorable scenes.

   

"But then an even greater force emerged, the U.N. And the UN un-nazied the world- forever."

It is an entertaining film, but honestly, I can't stand how mind numbingly stupid it can get. There's funny stupid, and there's annoying stupid. This movie offers a lot of the latter. Plus, I love the fact that the film tackles dysgenic stupidity and the demographic-economic paradox, but the execution is terrible. I can't say I can recommend it unless you're in for the laughs.

#54 - Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2005)

Got to say, this film was a big, pleasant surprise. I had completely dismissed it for one fact: Jim Carrey. God. I can't stand Jim Carrey. The way he overacts everything, making retard faces and expressions hoping people will find him funny. It's okay if the film in question is a kid-friendly comedy (I did like The Mask as a kid), but everything else... I had seen The Number 23 to see if he could pull of a more serious role and trust me, that didn't help at all. But turns out he managed to keep his shitty personal style under control here (for most of it). And I loved this film as a result.

Well, kind of. I didn't like it for Carrey's performance in particular, but everything else is excellent. The premise, in particular: Jim Carrey plays Joel, a shy, withdrawn person that runs into the charming and upbeat Clementine (Kate Winslet) in a train, and hit it off. But what they don't know is that they had actually been dating but grew sick of each other and recently erased the respective memories of each other through Lacuna Inc, a, er, memory erasing firm? The film then goes back to Joel as he tries to erase all his memories of Clementine, but ends up wanting to keep them and tries to save the, er, mental projection of her from erasure. I know it sounds crazy and disjointed, but trust me when I say it plays out wonderfully.

    

No plot holes other than a pseudo-futuristic company using fucking casettes.

But everything happening in between was perfectly executed. While Joel is trying to keep Clementine's memories, the real life Clementine is dating Patrick (Frodo, I mean, Elijah Wood), an employee of Lacuna that falls in love with her as he erases her memories and tries to seduce her acting like Joel. But Clementine seems to reject him, possibly due to the fact that she faintly remembers Joel. Or because of Patrick's hairy hobbit feet or short height, I don't know.

    

Oh, oh, and then he has to decide between Clementine or Sam! Who will he choose? (I'll stop now.)

And then there's a subplot involving another Lacuna employee (Kirsten Dunst) having a crush on her boss. Not as interesting but still pretty good. Aside from the perfect premise, I think pretty much every performance is spot on. Carrey, like I said, may not be the best choice but aside from some goofy moments he doesn't go apeshit and start doing "funny faces", and that's more than enough for me. Kate Winslet's character is excellent and appealing, the idea behind Elijah Wood's character is just genius, and the rest of the supporting cast, like Kirsten Dunst, Mark Ruffalo and Tom Wilkinson, are pretty entertaining as well.

The film isn't perfect: like I just said, there are a couple of scenes that feel really off. This one in particular: Joel tries to hide Clementine in his childhood memories so she won't be erased. The result: Jim Carrey acting, talking and dressing like a four year old. This is exactly what I was concerned about and it totally breaks the tone of the film, but luckily the rest of it wasn't like this at all and it moves on pretty quickly.

    

My exact words: "GOD NO."

You're not off the hook just yet, Jim. I may watch the Truman Show later on to see if I can get rid of my negative bias, but for now, Eternal Sunshine will do. It is an excellent film with some flaws here and there, but with such a great premise and characters you don't care. Highly recommended, even if you're not into romantic films.

#53 - Commando (1985)

Ok, when I start picking up stuff like an extremely cheesy 80's action movie with everyone's favorite politician, you know I'm running out of films in my list. At the same time it's dissapointing that I still have stuff like Gone with the Wind and other timeless, endlessly praised classics and I'm watching this, but what the hell, I had a blast watching it.

I guess the reason why I'm watching Commando is the fact that I was browsing for films and it popped up as one of Schwarzenegger's best films, along stuff like Terminator 2. But don't blame me, I'm a guy after all, and I love stupid action flicks. So, guess what the film is about? If you thought Arnold Schwarzenegger playing an ex-military something that has to rescue his daughter from some generic bad guys while killing every single one of them with cheesy one-liners, you guessed right! It's terrible and half of it doesn't make any freaking sense, but it's still awesome.

    

"How can he survive falling off a plane into a river? And how can't all those soldiers take one single guy-"

Just shut the fuck up and enjoy.

At this point I'm supposed to speak about the characters, but they are so generic and underdeve- why am I even doing this? Generic ex-militar commando hero man thingy fights generic apeshit revengeful bad guy, kills the generic henchman and gets the generic reluctant love interest along the way. Just like the characters, the acting is pretty much terrible. The over the top, funny kind of terrible. The film's from that time where Arnold hadn't still mastered the art of proper pronounciation so everything he says is incredibly stiff, but that just makes it funnier.

So you could say the saving grace of Commando are the action scenes. Well, the film is just a bunch of action scenes with crappy acting and story thrown in, but the action parts are worth it. While most of the film is action packed with some slow scenes in between, the initial scene where they kidnap the daughter, the part where Arnie breaks into the villa, and theduel with the bad guy take the cake. And the one-liners? A fucking cheesefest, but they are by far the best moments in the film. "Don't disturb my friend, he's dead tired." "You gotta co-operate, right?" "WRONG!"

    

Personal favorite:  "Let off some steam, Bennett."

Commando is nothing memorable, really. It's loud, it's stupid, but as a distraction it was pretty fun. I didn't want to sit through a two and a half hour long drama-heavy flick on the first day of my college semester. I would never recommend a film like this after all the classics I've had the pleasure to watch, there's nothing special about it... but you know, if you want something stupid to chill and have a laugh watching, knock yourself out.

#52 - The 25th Hour (2002)

I loved The 25th Hour. I mean it. I loved its characters, the premise, the conclusion... but when it came to writing a couple of paragraphs on it, I realized the film has little to no plot progression, or a cohesive theme to wrap up the story and deliver a clear message. But you know what? It is ok. That may be the message itself: it goes nowhere. And with a premise like this, it's a completely understandable idea.

The film narrates the last day in Monty Brogan's life before he goes to jail on a seven year sentence for drug dealing, and how he says goodbye to his friends and family. That's it, and surprisingly, it works. The film is going to end up with Monty going to jail and we all know it. Aside from tying up all loose ends, like saying goodbye to his childhood friends, finding out who gave him away to the police, finding someone to take care of his dog, there is no plot progression. And it works; you truly feel like it's over for Monty.

 

Everything: characters, scenes, performances; set a perfect melancholic tone.

That's one of the things I liked the most about the film, too. The slow pacing of the film helps not only develop the characters better but it conveys this idea that Monty is not in a hurry to go to jail and wants to take his time. The way the filmmaking choices and not the dialogue itself help us empathize with the titular character is genius.

Because, really, there's something wrong with Monty. From the beginning I couldn't hepl but wonder how could Edward Norton's character possibly be selling drugs. He is introduced rescuing a beat up dog in the middle of the street, he's well-spoken: he seems like a nice guy that made all the wrong choices. But instead of being an actual nice guy and being concerned on, say, all the damage his work has done, he is worried of not beoing raped in prison and the like. The character itself is really contradictory, but like I said, he's nice to watch and the pacing of the film helps us empathize with him. And Norton's performance is excellent to boot.

Scenes like these help a big deal. Here's a Youtube link. "Ten years in the country, still no speak English?"

The supporting cast also helps set the depressing tone of the film. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays Monty's friend, a shy teacher with a crush on his student; Brian Cox plays Monty's father, an alcoholic ex-fireman; then there's Monty's promiscuous girlfriend, Naturelle; his sleazy Russian friend Kostya... Their performances are also spot on, the characters are well developed, and everyone has his own subplot. They are what drive the story forward.

Except for minor nitpicks like the main character being contradictory and my inability to understand the post 911 undretones of the film, The 25th Hour was totally worth watching. One of the best surprises I had since I started this blog (I wasn't expecting a lot on this one).

#51 - Memento (2000)

I think I have never seen a film as hard to follow as Memento. I will probably watch it again later on, because the scenes are all scrambled and if a friend hadn't told me how to watch it I would have understood nothing. That's right. When you need instructions from a third party to understand a film, you know it's either a mess or a genius way to tell a story. I'll go with the latter.

The premise of the film is fantastic. Guy Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, who has anterograde amnesia (he cannot store new infromation, like, say, Drew Barrymore's character in 50 First Dates) as a result of an attack that also ended the life of his wife. He decides his wife deserves a proper revenge and starts diong his own investigation. Due to his condition he uses a series of photographs, tatoos and notes to keep a record of what he discovers since he can't rely on his memory. It's a great, original premise: a rare treat, given that Hollywood is so keen on remakes, adaptations, reboots, reimaginings, etc. nowadays.

   

Shelby's clues even guide the audience better than the plot.

Since the theme of the film is memory loss and all that, the narrative style is very weird. Here's how it goes: you have both color and black and white scenes. The black and white scenes are all in chronological order, while the color scenes are in inverse order. All of the black and white scenes together show the events before a murder that takes place in the climax of the film, and the color scenes show the events after it happens. It is incredibly messy but if you keep that in mind you can actually follow the plot without getting mixed up. I said multiple times I like Tarantino's non-linear style of storytelling, but the narrative structure Christopher Nolan came up with for this film takes the cake.

   

Here's a graphic if it helps you understand it better than my shitty explanation.

The characters on this film aside from Shelby, who has the spotlight at almost all times, are pretty good. I found Natalie (played by Carrie-Anne Moss) very appealing and the non-linear style helps a lot to develop her. The theme of unreliability and self deception is always present and that affects the characters as well, too. A contact of Shelby, Teddy, perfectly reflects this: Shelby even keeps a picture of his tagged "Don't believe his lies".

Memento is one of those movies that you have to watch a couple of times to make sense of it better. But one go was enough to say this is a genius film I highly recommend.

#50 - The Help (2011)

Films like this make me wonder why do I not go to the movies more often. I watch most of the stuff here online or on tv, but when it comes to checking the time and venue, making the arrangements with friends... maybe I'm just lazy, or theatres in my country are expensive enough to discourage me from coming by every now and then, but I miss out on a lot because of this. The Help was out of my radar until one year after it came out and thank god I spotted it on my cable network's pay per view catalog. It was totally worth it.

The Help is one of those films set fifty-something years ago, where a single person with a modern mindset tries to do something about the faulty status quo and faces dthe adversity of an old-fashioned society. But even then the interesting characters and original plot points keep it from being a generic premise made with Mad Libs or something. Emma Stone plays Skeeter, a recently graduated, idealistic white reporter in the 60's Mississippi, that with the help of two black maids, Aibeleen and Minny starts writing a story from their point of view about what they go through while working for white families.

The cast is predominantly female, and is split into the wealthy, hypocritical white bimbos and the black maids. Racism, then, is the main theme of the film. The scenes where Skeeter is the focus of attention shows her group of friends as... you know, stupid, pompous housewifes that get married to a rich guy and spend the rest of their lives gossiping, giggling and playing bridge... But their true racist, narrow-minded nature is revealed through the testimony of the maids. The "leader" of the white chicks, Hilly Holbrook, is a bigot bitch that, for instance, starts an initiative to make separate bathrooms for the maids "since they carry different diseases", and the like. Every revelation is an emotional kick in the nuts, sometimes, shocking, heart-wrenching, or even hilarious.

"Eat my shit." Hands down the best part of the film.

Character wise, the film is very strong. While Skeeter and Aibeleen are interesting characters, Minny and Hilly steal the show on their own way. Octavia Spencer got an Academy Award for her role as Minny, and it totally shows: a smart-mouthed, condescendant woman with a short fuse that has gotten her fired once or twice, and nails the part perfectly. Hilly, on the other hand, is one of those antagonists that you love to hate: always hiding her anger and bigotry behind that pretty little smile of hers. Another thing that stands out about all the performances, aside from the great characters, is the facial expressions. They might be a little over dramatic but they make the film a lot more enjoyable.

There are a couple of flaws, though. I felt like the film concentrated all the racial intolerance and opposition into one character just for storytelling's sake. Don't get me wrong, the other white women are easy to dislike too, but I felt like the film treated racism as the work of an evil mastermind and not as a social issue. And I really disliked Celia Foote's character. Oops, I hadn't mentioned her, have I? Because she doesn't fit in very well in the plot. I liked the fact that she was another way to exploit the white group's bigotry, being white but from a working class family, thus being scorned just as much, but the character is very cartoonish, naive and out of place. She ruined the dramatic/comedic tone a little.

Is she supposed to make up for it with her cleavage? She's halfway there.

Minor complaints aside, the film totally works as a drama film with bits of comedy in between. The issue of racism is very well adressed, well, maybe a little too dramatic, but what the hell. One of the best films from last year that I completely overlooked.

#49 - The Graduate (1967)

First reaction: "Holy fuck, is that Dustin Hoffman in his early twenties?" Er... no. He was 30 in this film, despite the fact that he's playing a 21 year old. Discrepancies aside, this is one of the best films to tackle that anxiety you go through as you reach maturity, that uncertainty of not knowing what to do next with your life. And that's far from being the only good thing the film has to offer.

Dustin Hoffman plays the recently graduated from college Ben Braddock, uncertain about his future and uncomfortable with his overly enthusiastic parents. During his graduation party, an acquaintance of Ben's father, Mrs. Robinson, seduces the reluctant Ben, leading to a couple of awkward situations until she and Ben start having an affair together. But Ben's parents set him up with Elaine, the Robinson's daughter, who he ends up liking despite his affair with her mother. It's a brilliant idea for a plot, particularly taking into account the fact that this film was shot in the late sixties. Really, this is an older woman having an affair with a 20 year old; I guess that was heavy shit back in the late 60's.

Despite the 9 year difference between the actor and the character, Hoffman's performance is great. As a character, Ben is extremely relatable and well developed. At first he is awkward and insecure, but boning an older woman gives him a substantial boost of confidence (wait, what?). While Mrs. Robinson is also very good, being a promiscuous hypocrite, Ellie and the rest of the supporting cast are not developed enough, but they are still entertaining. The chemistry and situations every character runs into are very well written and help highlight every one of the character's traits.

    

The titular characters are great, and scenes like this further develop them.

Although the film could be considered a comedy, it's not really funny. I was never laughing out loud, but Ben's overall awkwardness can get pretty entertaining... but the second half of the film is pretty dry on humor. Except for the very last scene, which was delightfully chaotic. Like I said, Ben's character changes a lot during the affair with Mrs. Robinson and his awkwardness mostly goes away, taking the humor away with it. The result is straight up romantic drama. But it still doesn't get dull.

The thing I liked best about the film, again, is how accurately it describes that, er, existential crisis we all went through right after finishing our studies. "Well, I finally finished school! Yay! ...What shall I do now?" While I personally got out of that existential limbo pretty quickly, Ben's situation is extremely relatable. And the way his parents react is spot on, at first all enthusiastic about his achievements and prsopects, and later on "nagging" him, telling him to stop swimming around in the pool and asking what will he do with his life.

       

This, coming from someone struggling to quit World of Warcraft at the time, was perfect.

Aside from being a transgressive, innovative film for its time and nailing the themes of promiscuity and anxiety perfectly, it is a very enjoyable film with great characters, scenes and music, that can be both funny and dramatic at times. Even when it doesn't wrap up the issue very well and shifts into a completely different film later on, I highly recommend this to people in their late teens or early twenties, particularly those in the same situation.

#48 - The Dark Knight Rises (2012)

Yes. I know this film has been out for a while right now. I was waiting for a friend to come over from a vacation so we (my group of friends) could all watch it without him missing it. And it was a tortuous wait, I mean, I bumped into Batman pictures on Facebook, 9gag and the like all the time, and quickly skipped them afraid of being spoiled. But it paid off. Kind of. Fuck those guys from my former high school that we bumped into and (almost) spoiled the film for all of us.

I don't think I need to make this clear, but make sure you've seen Batman Begins and The Dark Knight before seeing this. That being said, does this third part hold up as a worthy sequel? Does it close Christopher Nolan's trilogy properly? Abso-freaking-lutely. The film starts eight years after The Dark Knight, where order has returned to Gotham and Batman has retired for a long time, with Bruce Wayne secluded in his manor. After Selina Kyle, aka Catwoman (Anne Hathaway) steals some jewels from Wayne, which helps the mysterious Bane (Tom Hardy) to set in motion a plan that will destroy Gotham City for good, Batman is forced to return to action.

And the rest of the events are coreographed spectacularly. Like the two previous entries in Nolan's  trilogy, there's plenty of slow, dramatic scenes to go along the usual action scenes, both of which kick ass by the way. The slow paced scenes have great dialogue and characters, and the action is perfectly coreographed and put together. There's the perfect balance between them. While most of the scenes may not be as memorable as the first two entries, Catwoman's second heist scene and Bruce escaping the prison were really good, and the back breaking scene was pretty well adapted from the comics.

       

lol, Bane even says "...Break you!" right after that.

Well, if you've seen the previous films you know the supporting cast is awesome, and everyone reprises their roles, including Michael Caine as Alfred, Gary Oldman as Comissioner Gordon, and Morgan Freeman as Lucius Fox. Their roles are a little downplayed in this film though, but that's alright, since you have Tom Hardy and Anne Hathaway to fill the blanks. I really like Bane in this film (I mean, you can't really get it worse than Schumacher's Bane from Batman and Robin). Tom Hardy's performance is great, even with the restrictive mask he can convey emotion through his eyes and voice. His motive is not as clear as previous villians Ra's Al Ghul or the Joker, but it's still a great bad guy. And though at first I was worried about Catwoman (she still doesn't really remind me of the original character a lot) but she was pretty cool and nailed the morally ambiguous part perfectly.

     

 I like Michelle Pfeiffer's Catwoman better, but Hathaway was really good.

I know my verdict may come a little late (well, very late) but what the hell, I liked this film a lot. It closes Nolan's Batman trilogy perfectly, adds plenty of new, interesting characters and surprised the fuck out of me, even when social networks and every asshole I know tried spoiling the film for me.

#47 - It Happened One Night (1934)

This film just beat The Dictator and Citizen Kane as the oldest film I've watched for this list so far. But I can't underestimate it for its age, I mean, it won five freaking Academy Awards (best picture, best actor, best actress, best director and best writing? Holy fuck). Surprisingly enough, it still holds up as a fantastic film and a must watch if you're into romantic comedies. Or if you're not, whatever.

While the premise follows the same basic formula of every romantic comedy ever, it still works due to the great chemisrty between the characters. Claudette Colbert plays the rich and spoiled heiress, Ellie Andrews, whose father forbid her to marry the man he loves, King Westley. She escapes her father's grasp and rides a bus in Florida to get to King in New York. There she meets up with the streetwise and recently unemployed journalist, Peter Warne, played by Clark Gable. Trying to get the scoop of his life and get his job back, Peter agrees to help Ellie, who has a hard time, being used to a life of luxury.

        

It's the odd couple, fish out of the water and road trip clichés all in one, but it works.

Clark Gable's character and performance steal the show, being very charming and classy as well as pretentious and a little bit of an ass at times. While Ellie is supposed to be a pain in the ass, I mean, she is vain and pampered, she is pretty fun to watch as well. But while the main characters are great on their own (and the supporting cast is not half bad either), the thing that really makes this film great is the chemistry between the characters. Their relationship may be very typical, starting out with the bump-into-each-other scenario, being all "I would never date this guy" and later on warming to each other, but the progression and development of their relationship is very well paced.

And how can I forget the excellent writing. For most of the film I was surprised to see how spot on the dialogue was, coming out incredibly natural in contrast with the wacky situations the come across. The film's main source for comedy is the whole clash of classes idea, with the rich, pampered girl suddenly having to act by herself in a middle class setting and failing miserably at trivial things while the witty one tries to help her out. But even when they start getting along there's plenty of humor. Some highlights are the perfect rocky start; the car theft; or the moment when Ellie's dad runs into the couple and they have to pretend to be a low income, dysfunctional family.

And, of course, the hitchhiking part.

I also have to give the film credit because, even though it falls into the predictable fallout scenario, where right at the last third of the film both characters break up and get bitchy at each other, we don't get a sappy reunion. I won't spill the film's ending, but thank you so much for not doing that.

In the end, I think I'm close to considering it one of my personal favorite films. It's not that hilarious (it is, after all, a romantic comedy) but I still had plenty of laughs, and the characters, script and scenarios are fantastic. Almost eighty years later,  it still holds up as a really good and very enjoyable film.

#46 - The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

A while ago I watched John Carpenter's Halloween. Remember my verdict for that film? "The acting and cast are mediocre, the plot is extremely basic, the production values are pretty low and, most likely, you won't get scared watching it." I wasn't expecting a masterpiece or even a good movie. I just wanted to see how influential Halloween was to the slasher genre. And that's the exact same reason why I decided to take a peek at Texas Chainsaw Massacre, since it came out 5 years earlier than the former and now I'm confident this is the true granddaddy of the genre.

"Oh gee I wonder what the plot is like." Two brothers and a bunch friends go investigate the graves of their grandparents because of some reports of grave robbing and vandalism. Along the way they run into a mysterious and creepy hitchhiker, and run out of gas. Having to wait an entire day for thef uel to arrive to the gas station, they decide to spend the night in... an abandoned house- Really? What a bunch of retards! You had to dick around a decrepit, old mansion, of all places? Surprise, there's a madman running around with a chainsaw killing people and wearing their skins as a mask (hence the name, "Leatherface").

         

Cliché number 1, lack of survival instincts: check.

Like Halloween, there is nothing memorable about the characters. By the end of the film, tell me if you can remember the name of at least one of the characters. Nope? It doesn't help that I can't recognize any of the actors. Not even the madman on the chainsaw was that interesting. I mean, Micheal Myers at least had a backstory, for fuck's sake. Cliché number 2, forgettable characters and villian: check. I'll give Leatherface credit for being truly creepy for today's standards: Myers has aged terribly, but Leatherface's gory weapon of choice keeps it at least unsettling. Cliché number 3, faceless, stalking mass murderer, check.

I also have to recognize the fact that I was creeped out at moments. It's not scary by any means, but some of the images still hold up as somewhat disturbing despite the low budget. The protagonist stumbling into the room with all the skeletal remains, the disfiguration of Leatherface's first victims, or the final scene come to mind.

        

Cliché number 4, gory or unsettling imagery: check.

In the end, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, along with Halloween, is only worth watching if you want to see how influential it was to horror films. The acting is a little better though still mediocre, it still can be a little shocking, and introduced most of the clichés we've seen billions of times. Though it does lack sexual innuendos and a couple of other things... Come on, Texas came before.

#45 - Raging Bull (1980)

Oh look, a Scorcese film starring Robert de Niro and Joe Pesci. How long has it been since I watched GoodFellas? All that aside, this is a completely different film. It's not necessarily complex but it's still a great flick.

You can wrap up Raging Bull as "Rocky, only realistic". The film is based on the life of Jake LaMotta, a boxer whose jealousy, gluttony and violent behaviour wrecked his career and relationship with his family. Robert de Niro plays the main character and his preformance is excellent. The character is always believable as we watch him fuck up his life a little more by cheating on his wife, arguing with everyone he comes across, or getting into fistfights with his brother in front of his family. After a while, though, I felt it got a little old. It eventually gets hard to feel sorry for Jake since he's flawed to the core; the film rarely shows any good traits.

       

We get it, he gets drunk, punches people and fucks chicks. For two hours.

The rest of the supporting cast is very good too. Joe Pesci plays Jake's good natured brother, who also works as his manager. Like I said when I reviewed GoodFellas, I love the guy and the way Scorcese gets him to perform. I liked this character a lot more than Jake himself: he tries to help his brother keep his feet on the ground; trying to get him to stop eating like a pig to stay in shape, for instance. He has his flaws, though, and that keeps the character interesting. Cathy Moriarty plays Jake's second wife, Vickie (after he cheated on the first one). She also keeps being abused both physically and verbally by her husband, until she has enough. While she has to stand that constant abuse, she can hold her weigh at times without being a complete bitch, particularly at the latter half of the film.

While the film hasn't got much to offer other than Jake's hubris, it's still worth watching. There are plenty of memorable scenes, like when Jake seduces Vickie, when he fights with Joey in a blind rage believing he fucked his wife... Other moments, like when he has to bribe his way out of jail and ends up selling the jewels of his belt instead of the belt itself are small but also full of symbolism behind it. Jake's destructive nature is always there haunting him, and it's always thrilling to watch. Another thing that stands out is how de Niro put on weight for the latter portions of the film, where Jake got... well, just look below.

       

Holy shit. Hats off, fattie.

I don't think Raging Bull is remarkably entertaining or gripping, but the characters, scenes and overall style make it a modern classic. If you are willing to dump two-and-a-something hours watching the main character mess up everything, this film is for you.

#44 - Brazil (1985)

I came to the conclusion that cult classics are always hard to approach due to their basic nature. There has to be something very good about them that makes a reduced group of people cherish it so much, but there is almost always something that keeps it from achieving mainstream success. You can easily pinpoint both in Brazil; and just like in Donnie Darko. I loved the good bits a lot, but the bad ones kept me from giving it a very positive verdict.

The instant I started watching Brazil I was reminded of Blade Runner (has it been that long since I saw it?), you have a somewhat dystopian future with surreal images and similar visuals, like neon, bright colors contrasting against dark backgrounds. But instead of being a straight up futuristic film, Brazil feels more like how a man in the 40's might have imagined the 80's: it looks like a possible near future but other aspects look kind of old-fashioned at times. It looks like a retrofuturistic noir film, but the overall tone of the movie is completely different: it is overflowing wth dark humor, surreal images and exaggeration.

       

Some could say it is an incongruous mess: I say it works.

The story is just as intricate but it totally works. You have Johnathan Pryce as Sam Lowry, a government employee with little to no ambition, rejecting promotions and such. While trying to fix a bureaucratic mistake (that gets Archibald Buttle confused with Archibald Tuttle, a revolutionary leader, killed due to a typo) he comes across Jill Layton, a chick he has seen in his dreams, and motivated by his love/obsession is promoted to Information Retrieval, to find out more stuff about her. On the meanwhile, the real Tuttle (Robert de Niro) helps Lowry with some interfering workers that wreck his apartment. A lot more happens after (and during) that, but all the events are intertwined so well that you won't get mixed up.

And, aside from the unique visuals and complex narrative, I loved all the satiric undertones of this film. Again, it's a dystopian future where the world is ruled by bureaucrats, S.W.A.T. teams blow things up to take rebellious people away and typos can get you killed. What's not to like? Aside from that, Lowry's mom and her friends are great to watch, since they embody everything wrong with materialism and artificiality: all of them being obsessed with ridiculous plastic surgeries and eating food in the form of paste...

       

Ugh. Just ugh.

I really liked all that, but what about, you know, the "something that keeps it from achieving mainstream success"? All the surreal images. Lowry frequently dreams he is rescuing Jill from crazy, weird-looking monsters that look like something pulled out of a mediocre children-oriented fantasy film. It's so trippy and out of place, it sucks you out of the story and the setting. I also found the ending very unsatisfactory, it didn't wrap up a lot of loose ends and while it doesn't reach Donnie Darko proportions, it does get very weird. Plus, the social commentary bits sometimes get out of hand. Way out of hand.

Come on, death by paperwork? Did you seriously go there?

In the end, there is a lot to like if you are into this kind of dark, surreal parodies and retrofuturistic settings, but at times the "uniqueness" goes over the top and that can spoil the experience for a lot of viewers. It's not a film for everyone, and you are probably not missing out on a fantastic film if you decide not to watch it, but it's out there if you find the premise and my overall description interesting.