Lists
Best Of DecadeBEST FILMS OF DECADE
The New World (Both Versions) - The New World has two versions, both superior, moving works of artistic genius, about the colonisation of America. Have terrific, subtle performances, moments on otherworldly images amidst seemingly normal landscapes, and terrific use of voice-over to suggest lives living at the moment, unsure of the tragedies and joys that await the characters. The Sun, Alexandre & Russian Ark - One is about The Japanese Emperor wandering around his garden at the end of World War, one is about an old woman wandering around a make-shift army base and the surrounding area during a war, one about Russian history. All are visually spectacular, subtly emotional masterpieces. The Werckmeister Harmonies - A stunning Bela Tarr for this decade. Shot after lingering shot of compromised lives, all giving an accumulation of subtle character and mood. An amazing feat of film-making. Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter… And Spring - The life of a Buddhist man and an elderly man trying to teach him how to survive with grace, the younger man making many tragic mistakes before finding his way, seen through the seasons. A wonderful look at life. Saraband - Ingmar Bergman’s final film, the story of a once-married couple finding one another years later, seeing the tragedies that befell the other. This is the story of people facing up to their own, and others, flaws. Beautiful. Femme Fatale - A European fairy-tale of a film, where stories are played then replayed carefully, images have many meanings, and cinematic sequences play out simply for the joy of being a film. One of DePalma’s best films, this has spell-binding sequences, and is the best use of suspense and humour for many years. Animal Factory - A beautiful small-scale drama set in a prison, the story of a young man trying to survive in a system set-up to destroy him. Full of wonderful seemingly slight moments and sequences, this accumulates powerfully, with characters losing and trying to regain their souls in a mundane hell. Miami Vice - A love story set in the drug world, a depressed cop goes undercover and begins to lose his bearings, in a brutally violent world. A beautiful, under-rated noir update. The Agronomist - Jonathon Demme’s humane tale of Radio Haiti and the tragedies that befall it and its country. Punch-Drunk Love & There Will Be Blood - Paul Thomas Anderson really came of age this decade with these two films, one a twisted love story on the paranoia’s and fears of self-revelation to another, both kind and ugly while the other is about self-destruction and mindless greed dominating a life, leading to psychopathic need for tragedy to everyone. No Country For Old Men - Coen Brothers best film, a tragic, underplayed story of one simple decision, to go for a quick steal, leading to a brutal manhunt that no-one can escape, all for a money prize that is almost abstract. A tragic comedy. Mulholland Drive & Inland Empire - Two moments of David Lynch genius, the first a love story seen from various viewpoints, all obscured by self-delusion and need for the relief of fantasy, the second a tragic tale of madness and self-obsession, when there is no real self. The visuals are amazing. The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou & The Fantastic Mr Fox - Two wonderful Wes Anderson films, the first a comedy about a diver slowly losing control of his own little world, the second a similar set-up but done from a child-like POV, where people can fight back. Visually inspired both, two works of a unique, kind imagination. Solaris & Bubble - Solaris is a wonderfully depressed remake of a depressed Russian film, about the fantasy of the person you think you love, while Bubble is about longing in a dead environment, where any achievement is brief. Both have wonderful human moments amidst the quiet darkness of their environments. Elephant & Gerry - Two Gus Van Sant films of long shots and understated characters, one about a school massacre, another of two men lost in a desert. Both are addictive and focus on the build of people within what seems mundane, both about the accumulation of a life experience, not the artificial peak. A History Of Violence & Eastern Promises - Two Cronenberg crime stories about identity, both about men lying about his past played by Viggo Morternson, both about that man finding life very confusing when pressure is put on lies, where the truth of his character is very ambiguous. Both films take time to appreciate. AI: Artificial Intelligence - Spielberg makes a Kubrick project, sometimes a bit awkwardly in dialogue, but the film has an epic quality, as a robot boy travels the world to find a reason for being, discovering it in complicated ways that he himself cannot comprehend. It’s a sad tale, reminiscent of early Spielberg like The Sugarland Express of Close Encounters. The first third is especially brilliant. Dave Chappelle’s Block Party - Its not entirely a documentary, nor is it a concert film, instead it follows the creation of a block party, introducing the reasons for the block party, slowly introducing the event while getting an understanding of the area it takes place in. The inter-cutting of music and neighbourhood is beautiful, with Chapelle acting as host. A beautiful little film. The Devil’s Backbone & Pan’s Labyrinth - Two Guillimero Del Toro films, both about war-torn Spain, both with child protagonists, one set in a boy’s school and is about the sin of the war and death, the other about a little girl going to live with a fascist, with fairytale logic taking over amidst the tragic reality. Two wonderful films. The Squid And The Whale - A lovely little drama about divorce, and how difficult people can be, both in the lead-up to, and during, a divorce situation. All the characters are complicated, can be selfish but are recognisably human, which gives the film its warmth. PERSONAL FAVOURITES The Prestige - A truly wonderful film about the mechanics of showmanship, deflection, misplaced rage, mixed with a real sense of the grandeur of magic. Easily Christopher Nolan’s best film. Speed Racer - One of the most under-rated films of the decade, a kids movie that truly enters that visual head-space of a five to ten year old, throwing up a cartoony world with fast cars in day-glo colours, with split-screens moving from image to image with ease. The first twenty minutes is especially wonderful. Its horrible that a film this good was so totally ignored by all. Anchorman - Will Ferrell’s finest hour, as a limited local news anchorman in the 1970’s, facing feminism amidst a series of truly oddball sequences (especially the animated sequences after Ron scores with his lady love). An amazing supporting cast, with Paul Rudd a standout as ladies man Brian Fantana. The added film Wake Up Ron Burgendy, is hilarious also, with three stand-out comedy moments cut from the original film, a bank heist gone wrong “I’m not giving you any money. You don’t deserve it. Your masks don’t make any sense.” Champ Kind’s declaration of love to Ron, and the amazingly sick “What I’d like to do to Mother Nature” monologue. Yes, its deleted scenes are funnier than most movies. The Revenger’s Tragedy - Alex Cox didn’t get the financing to make many films this decade but this one put most directors to shame. Christopher Eccleston leads the cast, seeking revenge on a powerful family that killed his love. It plays as a revenge thriller and a parody of this genre, as well as being the most twisted and inventive take on updating a magic text imaginable, having many moments of Brechtian brilliance. Eccleston is terrific in the lead. Remember, let those who seek revenge dig their own grave first. Dominion: Exorcist Prequel - Dumped by hits own financiers, remade terribly by Renny Harlin, then released in a limited form when the remake was deemed an abomination, this was a more difficult than most assignment even for Paul Schrader. And it’s a beautiful film. While never terrifying, it has lovely sequences of build and strangeness (best of all the Northern Lights appearing during the exorcism), focusing on a man trying to regain his soul after the tragedy of World War 2. Stellan Starsgard, always a good actor, shines in this, full of subtle reactions that build powerfully, as he tries to find away to face evil and irrationality in the world. Looney Tunes: Back In Action - Wired but funny as hell Looney Tunes film by Joe Dante. Essentially its Daffy Duck runs amuck through Hollywood, Vegas and Paris. The painting joke sequence is still one of the funniest of the decade. Brendan Fraser’s only good film this decade. Office Space - The ultimate how to survive in a job you hate comedy, as a man decides not to care and starts getting promoted. Full of funny, twisted office-area interactions and paranoia’s, this works as an accumulation of details, scene by scene, rather than having a few stand-out moments. The Way Of The Gun - The best pulp heist flick of the decade, where Benecio Del Toro and Ryan Phillippe kidnap a surrogate mother for the mob, taking her Mexico way. Is full of rich, interesting characters who reveal themselves in spare, careful scenes, this also has a twisted escalation of stakes as the interactions slowly get out of control. Also has great action, especially when Phillippe accidentally jumps into a hiding spot full of glass, gutting half his arm up. Avatar - This is still too early to say how well it ranks ultimately with me. I only having seen it once, and recently, but gets poignancy for creating a truly original world out of many influences and then having the patience to stick with this world, showing it in careful detail. It has the naïve melodrama of the original King Kong and that’s no insult. Hulk & Superman Returns - Hulk is a brilliant, distanced yet personalised look of split personalities within the tantalisation and look of a comic book, both and example of and a strangely affectionate study of pulp, melodrama and personal film-making. Is Ang Lee’s most interesting film. Superman Returns is the most romantic superhero film of the decade, is about the mythical aspects of the genre and the characters, is about a strange god who’s confused and affectionate towards the brave flawed people. The film has a lovely retro style mixed with an interest in bigger, expansive science fiction landscapes and feelings. Its a terrific example of personalised epic film-making. LOVABLY INSANE The Village & The Happening - Two deeply crazy films, the first due to plot, the second due to plot and truly odd dialogue. And yet they are appealing. They village has a great mood to its opening section, a terrific fairy tale feeling, wonderful use of colour. Its end makes sense in a fairy tale type of way but isn’t set-up properly, as there is still a realistic expectation. The Happening is truly awful whenever anyone speaks. But as soon as its silent, when everything relies on images, there are some very interesting things going on. And then someone speaks and it gets awful. Especially if its Mark Whalberg, who’s terribly miscast. (Even more miscast than he was in Planet Of The Apes remake) Land Of The Lost - This one is a very eccentric comedy that has not gotten a lot of love. But its eccentrically funny but I covered it on the 2009 list. The Black Dahlia - DePalma’s mega-weird Ellroy adaptation moves too fast, has some plot points that are not elaborated on properly, has some very eccentric performances. Buts its style and oddness, its dark humour, its odd themes of constant doubling, obsession over the dead, mad hysteria driving everyone nuts is very compulsive. The brakes are off on this one and its great fun. Hannibal - Hannibal is similar to The Black Dahlia. It has many plot problems, has an unadaptable novel, some OTT acting, a crazy gothic undertone, a very romantic but twisted ending. But the central relationship is interesting and odd, the villains and revenge methods are very strange, and the whole thing is rather wonderful, if under-rated. Southland Tales - Just crazy. Good luck working out the plot in this one. You have amnesia, porn, incompetent revolutionaries. It has an odd, unrealistic tone and problems with mood. But like many on this list section, its flaws and strange obsessions are what makes it work, and be worth a look. Ghosts Of Mars - John Carpenter’s only film this decade has Ice Cube and Jason Statham, plus some other character actors wandering about getting killed, and the woman from Species. It is set on Mars, has monsters that are spirits who inhabit humans and turn them mad, cutting their faces up, is told out of chronological order. The downside is its not very good, doesn’t really make sense but is loads of b-movie fun. Dr Who has homage it twice, most recently in Water Of Mars (it’s the same plot, using water instead of air). Alexander: Director’s Cut - This is a really stupid film. I hated it the first time I saw it. It has terrible, terrible writing, the worst wig ever, dull direction that misses many sane set-ups that would tell the story in half the time and with efficiency. The only person who’s any fun is Val Kilmer. And yet its become bizarrely addictive. This one is a cry for help I’m afraid. The Truth About Charlie - This got a lot of bad press. It’s Jonathon Demme’s remake of Charade, with Mark Whalberg and Thandie Newton. And its not what you would expect. It doesn’t try to have an old-fashioned feel, instead going French New Wave meets eighties Demme style, where characters are established quick then get twisted and revealed using cheeky genre tricks. It’s a lovely, playful film. And most people hate it. TERRIFIC FILMS Before Sunset, The Pianist, Black Book, Tideland, Grizzly Man & Rescue Dawn, Public Enemies & Ali, American Psycho, The Terminal, Be Kind Rewind, Tallegeda Nights & Step Brothers, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead, Almost Famous: Long Version, Che Part 1 & 2, Peter Pan, Let The Right One In. TERRIFIC PULP-BASED MOVIES Pitch Black, Blade 2, Hellboy 1 & 2, The Mist, Mission To Mars, Spiderman 2 & Drag Me To Hell, Matrix Reloaded & Matrix Revolutions, Star Wars: Attack Of the Clones & Revenge Of The Sith, Kill Bill 1 & 2, Death Proof & Inglorious Basterds, Donnie Darko, Wallace & Gromit: Curse Of the Were-Rabbit, Hero & House Of the Flying Daggers. WORST FILMS OF DECADE W., The Fountain, Pearl Harbour, Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle, A Very Long Engagement, The Lady In The Water & Signs (One director, two terrible films. An achievement), The Producers, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Ghost Rider, Be Cool, Roman Polanski: Wanted And Desired, The Invasion, Death Race, Elizabeth: The Golden Age, XXX2 & Die Another Day (Another two film one director achievement) - Can’t be bothered elaborating on their heinous natures. All are despicable or incompetent in one way or another. MOST DISSAPOINTING OF DECADE Zodiac, The Darjeeling Limited, Hollow Man, Collateral, Burn After Reading & The Brothers Grimm - All terrific directors yet what the hell happened? Yet Mann, Gilliam, Verhoeven and Anderson followed these disappointments with what I consider some of their best achievements. Red Dragon, Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines & Die Hard 4.0 - How not to make sequels to terrific genre series‘. Truly dispiriting in their base cynicism. At least Terminator got redemption with the TV show. The other two have withered and died. Big Fish - Just boring, obvious, unimaginative with a terribly dull Ewan McGregor performance, hitting the cliché notebook. Burton has bounced back a little since here but it’s a bad, bad film to have on the film list. Horribly sentimental also, but without any actual point. Just father and sons don’t understand one another. Probably the worst of this bunch. BEST OF TV Drama Deadwood - A great western-based drama about the painful and stunted rise of civilisation, seen through the gold rush in Deadwood. Ian McShane and Timothy Olyphant were wonderful as the leads, complicated, annoying, slowly losing their moral footing. The supporting cast and the tragedies of these characters made for engaging drama throughout, with major peaks or insanity and grace. Battlestar Galactica - Great sci-fi, where a group of survivors of an apocalypse, are on the run through space, slowly turning on one another throughout, struggling to find some grace. It started complicated and grew even more complex as time went on, leading to an ambiguous that refused to answer many questions. A very original take of morality and religions. The Wire - A great drama on institutions, be it drug business, the police, government, schools or the media, where compromise wins always, individuals always struggle, where tragedy awaits. A very humane look at survival in modern society. Oz- Some of this was shown in the last decade but I never saw it until beyond 2000. And its wonderful, brutal, human and contradictory. For the rest of the drama is a drop-off to these interesting shows. Robbery Homicide Division - A Michael Mann produced series, which didn’t last long, it had Tom Sizemore in a rare good performance as an obsessed LA cop. Not a patch on Crime Story yet its still wonderfully compulsive, if alas short-lived. Dr Who Series 1 - The Christopher Eccleston stories, which set the series up with great verve, which it never quite hit again. This had the most interesting, unpredictable Doctor in Eccleston, who was never entirely sane, who was keeping down a lot of darkness, as well as finding great optimism everywhere, and a terrific central relationship that went stale when Eccleston regenerated. It’s regeneration scene is still a highlight of the revival. Chuck - The most fun show. Loads of odd situations and scenes, with intriguingly mentally deficient characters. Its exists simply to entertain, with zero pretensions towards itself or the viewer. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles - Very flawed in many ways but its peaks are terrific. It had an epic, involving story that slowly paid off over time, staying serious in character while keeping its pulpy origins. The Sopranos - Certain seasons and episodes were terrific, others dull as dish-water. The most inconsistent good show ever, that went on for years too long, repeating the same dynamic in not always interesting ways. Guilty pleasure - 24 -Not always the greatest drama, with many painful dialogue sequences, not to mention season 6, which was a disaster, but such pulpy fun at its best that its difficult not to enjoy. Comedy Comedy was where this decade was very strong, much more than drama in terms of invention. Black Books - Genius silly misanthropy from Dylan Moran. Whether it be performing native jungle surgery in Canada to writing children’s fiction, via a 900 page tome on Russian misery, this is a truly wonderful show. Bill Bailey makes a great comic fall-guy. Futurama - Witty, irrelevant, imaginative show with some terrific characters and a twisted sense of nothing being sacred. Zap Brannigan and Kiff are the funniest double-act of the decade, Bender the craziest, especially when starring in a soap opera. Jam & Nathan Barley - Chris Morris is a genius and these two shows prove why. Jam is like a twisted comedy version of a J.G Ballard novel, all about disconnection amidst absurd situations. But with dark jokes. Nathan Barley then goes on to prove that people are idiots and there is no way out, that the morons have charm and have taken over the ability of semi-knowledgeable adults to make any headway in life. It was a very frustrated show. 30 Rock - Have already written on this but its really funny. One of its strengths is the smaller characters, who slowly go crazy like Scott Asdit’s Pete, who is resorting to shoplifting to feel anything, or Dennis the Beeper king, a man with no brain, played by Oz’s Dean Winters, who objects to Hurricane Katrina because of what the people did to the stadium. Great throw-away gags like “Empathy is as useless as the Winter Olympics.” are also priceless. The Thick Of It - The entire series shows the fall of labour, from a fairly functional but slightly incompetent organisation, to a party in crisis trying to find a new leader, to a party left with only the people nobody wants. Painfully funny. The League Of Gentlemen - A complete, original comic-fantasy world, with dark humour that slowly builds and never stops being a bit disturbing yet funny. Too many hilarious characters and situations to list, its darker, sad under-current a dominant feature. Arrested Development - Very funny comedy about an extremely dysfunctional and delusional family, this works as it builds a farce around characters who are only slight cartoons, taking recognisable emotions then building them into extreme situations which then build and build into gradual insanity. A great cast with the stand-out of David Cross and Dr Tobias Funke, a closeted gay man who can’t face the truth, going to absurd lengths to avoid basic self-knowledge. Garth Mareghi’s Dark Places - A brilliant parody of ego gone mad, of bad 70’s TV, as a horror writer creates a show starring himself, and lets loose with every idea he has, few of them good in a conventional sense but wonderful as gags. Even though it has a rich set of characters, Matt Berry stands out as womanising drunk actor Todd Rivers, who plays Dr Lucien Sanchez, best bud of the main character. This guy is always funny, even standing in the background doing nothing. His descriptions of acting technique, from beats to soap opera actors and how they prepare, on the DVD extras is stunning and one of the best comedy moments of the decade. Snuffbox - Matt Berry then went on to make this show, a six-episode one season show that never got any real press, co-written by and co-starring Berry and American comic Rich Fulchner. It’s a wonderfully inventive, silly sketch show that’s difficult to describe, combining music, silliness then very dark sketches, centred by two disreputable characters who work as hangmen. It has a unique mood that’s not mainstream but is wonderful if you get on its wavelength. Curb Your Enthusiasm - A terrific show that’s easy to under-rate as its so famous. While it has its own defined formula, as defined as a Looney Tunes cartoon, the like that Larry David manages to do a lot with what he has, bouncing off various strange characters as he tries to get through his day amidst disaster and conversations that will get him in trouble. Odd conversations range regularly from his manager to wife, to people playing twisted versions of themselves, such as Ted Danson or Jerry Seinfeld, to name two whop have really gone for it in weirdness. High-light episodes are the crazy-eyed killer, the one with the dolls hair and the one where Larry insults a religious group by making comments about the Virgin Mary on Christmas Day. And the beloved death notice and incest survivors group. I could keep listing. Its very inventive. Dr Terrible & Saxondale - Two terrific less than famous Steve Coogan creations, Dr Terrible a wonderfully accurate and subtly funny send-up of Hammer and 60’s/70’s British horror (standout: The Killer Lizard story with the line “Ken this and ken this well!”). Saxondale looks at the failure and anger of a man who’s peak has passed him by and he can’t quite understand how life has gotten so dull, as he deals badly with aging and appropriate rebellion. A very funny creation. The Venture Brothers - Funny twisted sci-fi parody, which would the be funniest sci-fi show ever if it weren’t for Futurama. The level of invention episode to episode is off the scale. Brock Samson is one seriously twisted character and he‘s the straight-man. WORST OF TV The Simpsons (recent) & Red Dwarf: Back To Earth - Embarrassing to what were two great shows. BEST OF 2012BEST FILMS
Cosmopolis & A Dangerous Method – Two great Cronenberg films in one year. Cosmopolis is a wonderful, twisted tale of a man slowly drifting away from his life, conversing with people who he slowly loses interest in as they talk. It has an obsessiveness that’s fascinating, of a man who can no longer to connect with life, has quirks and complexities to suggest there’s a lot more going on than meets the eye. A Dangerous Method is about Jung and his development of his own form of psychotherapy theories of treatment, of the confusion, self-torment and difficulty of such a life. Two films where the protagonists seem ready to crawl out their own skins. Damsels In Distress & Killer Joe – Two tales of romance, with different outcomes. One is a kind-hearted story of people over-coming their private traps, pretensions and insanities, for a earned heart-warming (and old-movie style) conclusion. The other has masses of nudity within dialogue, family members murdering each other in the most primal way imaginable, a teen marrying a murderous cop, and a sour outlook on life. Everyday life is somewhere in the middle but these were terrific films. The Adventures Of Tintin & Moonrise Kingdom – Two child-like tales with different styles. Tintin was Spielberg’s best film in years, a tale of a young man going on adventures around the world, having a sense of excitement about the world, it’s odd characters, and the fantastical possibilities that is infectious. Moonrise Kingdom was about the damage of isolated worlds, having the actions of rebellious, unconventional children making life slightly more bearable. The Cabin In The Woods & Chronicle – Kids. What can you do with them? In these two films the answer is obvious. Kill ‘em all. The Cabin In The Woods is a self-knowing parody of the genre that works as its good on character and cheekily doesn’t take itself too seriously. It’s based in the 1980’s horror, its set-up Sam Raimi, its ending pure 80’s John Carpenter. Chronicle is based on the idea of kids getting superpowers and then acting like kids rather than noble icons, which leads to murderous intent and the world hating them. These were genre films done properly. The Muppets & The Pirates – Two films that are simply fun, which is an ignored area of pretentious and highly dubious lists such as these. The Muppets was a simple get the muppets together again for a silly movie. It was charming, had decent musical numbers and lots of Fozzie Bear. What more can you ask. The Pirates was a wicked and ridiculous take on pirates, monarchy, clichés of sea-bound tales, with gag after gag that landed. That’s more difficult than it looks. The Dark Knight Rises & The Avengers – Two excellent, flawed comic book movies that succeed due to their strengths of scope over minor debatable decisions. The Dark Knight Rises had some plot flaws yet its ambition, to cover the fall and rise of an entire city, and the evolution of a modern myth gave it weight. The Avengers may not have had the most complex plot or action but worked like a 1930’s comedy once the characters began to interact and smart-arse lines and swift character beats were brought up, developed and solved with a satisfying swiftness. BIGGEST DISAPPOINTMENT The Hobbit – This film lacks passion, wit, purpose, and intelligence. Is there any more damning comments that can be made of it. WORST Battleship – Outside of Suckerpunch, the worst film of the decade so far. Stupidly militaristic, unimaginative design, dull action, terrible acting by all, and a plot that took about 10 minutes to write and three seconds to read. Everyone involved should be ashamed. Piranha DD- Completely stupid but not in a fun way. Goes on forever with dull/stupid set-up scene after set-up scene, then ends suddenly with a few deaths. Just a rip-off of audience goodwill, without the decency to put in any real effort. Lasts just over an hour. Conan The Barbarian- Stupid remake of a John Milius film. The action has no sense of staging, pacing, geography, wit, style, or shot to shot progression. The lighting is lots of lights or nothing. The framing is always awful. The actors are left behind by the director and writers so can’t really be blamed for anything. FUN ACTION Jack Reacher – A twisted knowing genre movie that gets round potential clichés by clever human touches and dark humour. While the plot is fantastical, everything is based upon bad decisions made by weak, greedy people. Has a good lead character, a great car chase, brutal fights and a great set of villains. Haywire – A revenge tale that engaged quickly and efficiently. It had kick, never wasted time, was brutal in its action, as it wound its way around a serious of victims. A top-tier b-movie. Safe – Jason Statham’s best film, where he defends a little girl that various underworld types want for her knowledge, all of whom have police ties. It has the usual Statham action but also a plot jumping back and forth in time, that takes time to reveal its character motivations. Far superior to what people would expect. Skyfall – Works very well as a classic Bond film, as well as developing the character, and is a lot of fun with it going into the classic Bond characters. Not as good as Casino Royale, with some dubious plotting, but it doesn’t matter ultimately, once the film kicks into gear. The last few minutes are terrific. The Raid – A SWAT team goes into a building and have to fight their way out. That’s the simple premise, and it doesn’t deviate from that base yet the action is terrifically brutal, and there’s some good but simple plot and character mechanics, as well as a cynical view of the police politics that drive the plot. Undisputed 3 – Direct to DVD film of the year, with Scott Adkins as Boyka, mad Russian prisoner, who has to go into an international prison fight tournament, as he goes round after round, against an array of eccentric madmen, as he pummels his way to get a chance at freedom. This works as it embraces the melodrama and inherent absurdities. A great little b-movie. FLAWED BUT INTERESTING Red Tails – Old-fashioned in character, plotting and dialogue, terrific in the sky. Yet it works as a throwback as it doesn’t try to be hip, and is very under-rated. The Ward – Another throw-back, this time from John Carpenter. A horror film set in a mental asylum that puts Shutter Island to shame. It’s old-school characterisation and detail that carry this one as an enjoyable b-movie. Prometheus – This film can be very stupid, hackneyed, irritating, but it also has a sense of wonder about the universe, and sci-fi in general, that it’s difficult to put it down too much. It needed more script work, and a better ending. Coriolanus – A Shakespeare adaptation that’s a mess for the first 20 minutes before settling down and becoming interesting in its unlikable monstrous central character who can’t win, no matter which side he takes. It has terrific moments and confused beats but it’s always interesting to watch. BEST TV The Thick Of It Series 4 –A great conclusion to a wonderful, cynical, sharp, sad, exasperated show, that makes most other political dramas look naive and rather dumb. Community Season 3 – The end of the Dan Harmon era on the show had ken Burns parodies, a dreamatorium, kidnapping, madness, an episode inside a video game and a musical. That and continually well-written and acted, unique characters. 30 Rock Seasons 5 & 6 – Continual insanity and brilliance on this show, especially Baldwin’s couches and his speech on American workers and Frank’s romance. Sherlock Series 2 –Had a great opening that it, a good middle and solid closing, it was another terrific year. Not quite as clever as series 1 but with better characterisations. It’s still a wonderful series. Dr Who Series 7.1 – Not quite as solid as series 5 & 6, it had great Dalek and Weeping Angels stories, and the other stories were enjoyable. Is only halfway through but its peaks have been terrific. Chuck Season 5 – A good ending to a terrific escapist series. The shortness of the season meant a few plot developments moved too fast but it still delivered a terrific, ambiguous ending and great moments for all its characters. Futurama Season 5 –Not quite yet back to series 3 form, the series has terrific moments and character beats that most comedies wouldn’t dare attempt. BEST FILMS SEEN RELEASED FROM PREVIOUS YEARS Artistic - Films made with obvious pretensions to something greater. The Structure Of Crystal, Vengeance Is Mine, The Illusionist, Melancholia, Schizopolis, Head, The Long Goodbye, The Rum Diary, The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button, Client 9: The Rise And Fall Of Elliot Spintzer, A Cock And Bull Story, Primer, Vahalla Rising Pulp – Films made with a solid genre base. Extract, Ishtar, Repo Chick, Contagion, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Captain America: The First Avenger, X-Men: First Class, Dragonslayer, A Christmas Carol, Drive, Johnny Handsome, Warrior, Behind The Mask- The Rise Of Leslie Vernon. TV seen from previous year Justified Series 2, Mad Men Season 4 Game Of Thrones Series 1, Breaking Bad Season 3, Sons of Anarchy Seasons 2 & 3, The Shield (all), Chappelle’s Show (all), The Blue Planet, Ken Burn’s The War. Under-seen filmsHere is a list of films that were well-received but seem to have been lost cultural impact in recent years. They haven’t become the slow-burning cult films. Some have lead actors who fell out of favour (and thus good films get tarnished by an actor’s reputation), others enjoy critical respect as part of a director’s career but are not making many best of lists anymore, and finally some are under-seen, appreciated by those who have knew them.
I’ve limited the list to films released in the final two decades of previous century, as it’s a bit early to rate more modern films in this area, and previous eras are fairly established within critical consensus. Dead Ringers – This is David Cronenberg’s best film. It’s under-rated only because its seen as part of a collection of terrific films but still deserves greater cultural knowledge. It focuses on a set of twins and their mental disintegration, but the film deals beautifully about existence and the frailty and flaws that exists within people. The film is haunting. Mishima – This is Paul Schrader’s best film. It’s not well-known as its set in Japan, is about a gay writer. It sets up a variety of stories in many styles that illustrates Mishima but is about his internal struggles and rage. It’s hugely influential and was produced by Francis Coppola and George Lucas. (Kill Bill and later Scorsese owe a huge debt to this without ever quite being as good) Slacker – Richard Linklater’s Slacker was first released film, although was not his first full-length film (his first film was the wonderful Its Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books). It moves between people and has no narrative push. Instead it watches people who exist, are eccentric, who are getting on with their lives. It’s about the conversations and odd events that exist in daily life which are not talked about. It pre-dates nineties cinema and is a large influence on it. It was once famous but now seems to be forgotten. This is wrong as the reason why it was a success was because it is wonderful. White Hunter Black Heart – This film was Clint Eastwood’s serious film made directly before Unforgiven. It’s about a director based on John Huston (played by Eastwood) who takes insane risks while making a film in Africa. Commercially it was a failure but is an underplayed film about the darker impulses that are allowed to run riot by a man with power. Its easily one of Eastwood’s best films. Empire Of The Sun – This was a commercial failure for Steven Spielberg. It starred a young Christian Bale, was about a boy who survives a Japanese prison camp, and goes from a normal selfish child to a darker young adult. It is very unsentimental about how people betray one another and survival techniques under dire circumstances. Due to its subject matter, it has been generally ignored since release (as was A.I., another dark under-rated Spielberg film) Grosse Point Blank – This was the film that inspired this list. In the late 1990’s this film was a major cult film, which also made decent money. It was a rare crime film that wasn’t a Tarantino knock-off, was romantic, had its own left-ish identity, was about how people sell-out and disappoint without ever putting that on the surface, mixed comedy with dark undertones that were well-spaced. John Cusack looked ready to be a star after it. In the decade following, Cusack has remained an interesting actor but like the film has fallen away somewhat. This film deserves better. Out Of Sight – This is still a well-known film but had a high-impact on release but is now seen as simply a George Clooney movie. It’s a terrific Steven Soderberg crime film, very funny, earthy but romantic, has a narrative that jumps back and forth, and has a relaxed atmosphere. It’s been consigned to been a star vehicle when it’s that actor’s best film by a long way, especially following Clooney’s fairly samey output in the last decade. Raising Cain – A DePalma film made in the follow-up of a huge disaster, is a wonderful tongue-in-cheek self-parody that also has some great moments. It has dream sequences, which becomes dream sequences within dream sequences (Inception would use this idea), had multiple personalities (much of late nineties cinema, including Fight Club, would follow-on from this), and flying babies (not much in the way of influence here). It also has John Lithgow playing multiple characters. It’s terrific and also very funny. Bound - The Wachowski’s first film, a lesbian gangster movie, that made a huge splash when released, and then became less impactful generally when the Wachowski’s made The Matrix, which became the film to talk about. This is a problem as Bound is a wonderfully handled, stylish suspense film, with some nasty moments and theatrical villains. It also has a great sex scene early on. Field Of Dreams – The Costner factor makes this fall away from its proper standing. It’s a rare type of film, a potentially sentimental film that avoids all the traps and underplays most of the emotional moments, to greater effect. It’s one of Costner’s best performances but is now an under-seen film. Its ripe for rediscovery. (also see The Untouchables, another well-liked film of yesteryear which is now rarely commented upon) The Fisher King – The Robin Williams factor does the same for this film. It is a minor Gilliam film (although far superior to The Brothers Grimm) but the writing, direction and Jeff Bridges’ lead performance should have kept it far more prominent in the public’s mind than it is. Even Williams is good. But it just seems to have fallen into an odd TV screening and little cultural impact. Which is a shame. Its status as a minor Gilliam film will likely keep it there. Fearless - Another Jeff Bridges film. This is a terrific film about a man who survived a plane crash, who feels blessed. It has stunning visuals from director Peter Weir, who is one of those directors who can create eerie sustained mood. The ending of Bridges returning to humanity and all of its foibles, is a stunning sequence. Used Cars – A jet-black comedy from Robert Zemeckis, who would soon be making Back To The Future. This stars Kurt Russell as a cynical used car salesman, and has scene after scene of incredibly cynical interactions and manipulations, including keeping dead people seemingly alive, lying to the dead man’s daughter about him being alive, and interrupting a presidential speech to advertise used cars. It ends with a huge, farcical car chase with hundreds of used cars. It’s wonderful. The Beast – This film was little seen on release and has been a minor cult film ever since. It deserves far better. It’s about a soviet tank getting lost in Afghanistan in the 1980’s, and stars Jason Patric. It was directed by Kevin Reynolds and has a terrific accumulation spite and anger between the tank crew. It also has one of the best action scenes in the last decade, as Patric tracks the tank over the mountains ranges, to get revenge on the crew who betrayed him. It’s a major eighties film. Highway Patrolman – This is Alex Cox’s return to film-making after Walker, a film that saw him black-listed from Hollywood. It’s one of the great films of the nineties and was completely ignored. It concerns itself of the trials of a short, newly decorated patrolman, who has to deal with the law in Mexico and life. The description is basic but the film is stunning. (Cox’s follow-ups Death And the Compass and Three Businessmen, are major nineties films, which show how a career can get back on track artistically after a disaster by focusing on the basics of film-making). Best of 2011Best Films
The Tree Of Life- Amazing style and complicated emotions. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - Terrific reworking on a great story Living In the Material World – A terrific 4 hour documentary by Scorsese (his best film for years) on George Harrison. Inside Job - A horrifying look at the financial meltdown. Very well-researched and put together. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol – Great suspense and action scenes, some decent humour and a game cast, make this the most enjoyable entertainment of the year. Super – A twisted tale of a wannabee super-hero with a religious edge. Very funny and dark. Attack The Block - Energetic, fun pulp, done the way it should be. Fun characters, a defined space, and a story that flows logically from one situation to the next, with an emotional resolution. So few modern films can do that. Good entertainments Fast Five – Was simply stupid entertainment of the highest order. A simple heist that’s a backdrop for over the top- action. A bank gets dragged through a city and destroys most of it. No explanations necessary. Thor – An entertainment that’s more character-based than most superhero films. Nothing original in it but the execution was consistently engaging and the story moved forward with pace. The Fighter – Shallow Rocky-type story that is predictable in every story beat but the director gave it a solid world to build from, giving the film a pleasing feel. Not a world-beater The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo – Over-long, and not quite as smart as it thinks it is, (I spotted both twists halfway through). Yet the atmosphere and pleasing grumpiness of the lead characters, as well as the sense of a corrupt world choking itself, keep the story working. Worst Films Suckerpunch- Probably likely to be the worst film of the decade. Sexist, tawdry, idiotic and boring. Super 8 & Source Code – Were fine and over-done in style/acting for a time then the films got into the third act and got stunngingly/insultingly dumb. Annoying waste of potential. Green Lantern - Was fun in a laugh at it way but was also really stupid in basic plot and character. It had a finale that lasted about three minutes and made little sense, had a dumb finale twist, and generally felt like it had been put together without any real care. A real waste of time and money. Pirates Of The Caribbean 4: Whatever The Hell Its Called - Boring, repetitive, with a plot that should take up about ten minutes of screen time. For every decent idea, there's about three bad action scenes to drag you down. Television I’ve been watching a lot more TV than films. A great year for that. Dr Who Series 6, Breaking Bad Season 1 & 2, Party Down Season 1 & 2, Community Season 2, Mad Men Seasons 2 & 3, Sons of Anarchy Season 1, Generation Kill, Treme Season 1, Chuck Season 4, Lost (all seasons), Wonders of the Solar System & Universe, Monty Python - The Truth - The Lawyer’s Cut, Star Wars Clone Wars seasons 1 & 2 Best films seen from previous years Alice, The Gorgon, Hell Comes To Frogtown, Privilege, Piranha 3-d, Coraline, Lilo & Stitch, Only Angels Have Wings, The Smashing Machine, Spellbound. |
Hated Or Unpopular Films That I Love And Films That Make Me Rage.Essentially its a list of hated films that I happen to like or love, and films that I despise. At the moment its a list but I'll add reasons to them as time passes.
Much Loved Films of Low Repute List (some are linked in some way so count as one) 1) Exorcist 2: the Heretic & Dominion: Prequel To the Exorcist - Boorman's Exorcist 2 is seen as some some of abomination. As a plot its a mess but the images throughout are beautiful, the ideas within it are progressive, and it just has this wonderful, personal quality that's missing from many films of a certain budget. Dominion was famously shelved and remade horribly with mainly the same cast. It's a lovely, imperfect film, has terrific use of sculptures, of people talking, has great odd moments - cattle attack hyena's, the northern lights appearing as a redemptive moment during an exorcism. 2) Speed Racer & The Matrix Revolutions - Two apparent disappointments. The Matrix Revolutions went away from what was seen as the focus of the series, did have some annoying characters. The wonders it had was an underground city under siege, suggesting Bosch if he had drawn giant robots, a machine city and infra-structure that was genuinely alien, a beautiful, visually arresting final fight that's about how useless the fighting is. It was a very ambiguous, under-rated film. Speed Racer is a cheerful, split-screen crazy family film, with silly kid gags and fun chases. It also has a great sense of its own childish world, can slip in and out of character fantasies with ease - done as crude visuals they way a child would imagine, has a villain who's cartoon nasty and over-the-top. 3) The Black Dahlia & Mission To Mars - Two Brian DePalma films, both odd, eccentric, neither of them getting much respect. Black Dahlia is a wonderfully baroque version of a terrific book, which highlights the twisted humour and darkness below Ellroy and DePalma. Mission To Mars is an optimistic, almost naive space film, which is unusual in this cynical time. It has an amazing space death scene. Neither are perfect but have moments of great beauty. 4) Marie Antoinette & One From The Heart - The two Coppola apparent messes that are very similar, attempting to act out against the genre worked within. Marie Antoinette is a biopic that sticks to an interior view of the central character, modernisms throughout creating a mood to explain character, emerging from the energy of people interacted with, as well as central character. It ignores the stodgy elements of a typical biopic that insists that it knows everything about the subject. A very inventive film. One From The Heart is a downbeat musical, a visual style that is part early eighties excess, part impressionistic 30's style film. Its a blue collar love story done on a massive budget. It has a distinctive world. 5) Hulk, Batman Returns & Superman Returns - Hulk and Batman Returns are easily my favourite comic book films. Hulk's use of split-screen to suggest emotion is wonderful, displayed against quiet, tortured performances and wonderful 50's style backdrops. The moment when Banner finally remembers the death of his mother and turns into Hulk is a stunner. A beautiful film. Batman Returns is full-on Gothic melodrama, every character tortured, on the verge of a nervous breakdown. There are wonderful moments throughout, from character -any time Keaten and Pfieffer are together- to imagery -an army of Penguins attacking the city. The end is wonderful, tragic but not over-done. Superman Returns is a lovely film. It's mood is quiet yet genuinely pulpy, is essentially about a god trying to interact with people. Its not perfect but does have interesting images and mood throughout. 6) Interview With The Vampire & Cat People remake - Interview With the Vampire is a film that has no real story, save a depressed vampire telling the episodic story of his life. But the atmosphere is stunning, the characters odd and twisted, the tragedy slowly developing, so its an unusual success. It really shouldn't work, is based on a bad novel. Schrader's Cat People remake is more flawed, does not have a real narrative drive that keeps you engaged but does have wonderful red images, a truly strange romance (like Vampire) and the longing of damned creatures. It also has a very twisted ending that no studio will allow for now. 7) Heaven's Gate & Alien 3: Extended Cut - Heaven's Gate is a long, long notorious film. It can be quite boring at times. It destroyed a studio. It is also beautiful, has doomed characters in a situation that they cannot win. It's about the poor being taken apart methodically by the rich. It's a very stately film that many may find claustrophobic. Alien 3 was also a disaster when released. The DVD extended cut is clearer, has pace focused on images creating a world through framing, the world placed in front of the viewer very specific and old, almost dead in people's eyes before the Alien comes to finish them off. This is about a group of madmen within a doomed world. It's not at all scary in a conventional sense but is a beautiful horror film. 8) Sorcerer & To Live And Die In LA - Two Friedken films. One is a remake of the masterpiece Wages Of Fear. It's not as good as that but does have a great sense of men on a doomed mission in a trapped, awful world. has a great bridge sequence and a terrific Roy Schieder performance. To Live And Die In LA is about secret service agents hunting down money forgers. It's all mood, nasty characters, intense chases and horrific twists. Both of these films are about their worlds more than character as Friedken is want to do. But they're great despite what critics say. 9) Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 (sequel to the original) & The Keep - Texas Chainsaw Massacre 2 is a very funny film. The Keep is a very serious film. Both are very strange. Texas 2 essentially has Dennis Hopper fighting Leatherface with a chainsaw, is a parody of the food industry, is a parody of love stories (Leatherface falls in love), is essentially a parody of everything. Its really excessive and is wonderful. The Keep is a Michael Mann fascist allegory from the eighties, with Ian McKellen as an elderly Jewish scholar and Gabriel Byrne as a nazi. Its got a monster made out of light, lots of stunning atmosphere shots, is out of its mind as a narrative. But its just so beautiful and odd that it's irresistible. 10) Pistol Whipped, Belly Of the Beast & Into The Sun - I love late era Seagal movies. So sue me. I need something to double-bill with Bela Tarr. Honestly, they are a lot of fun. Hateful films for me, whose idiocies anger me even at the thought of them. I could rant about any of these films for a very long time. So that's a warning to you all. 1) A Very Long Engagement & Alien Resurrection - Of all the films, these two annoy me most. A Very Long Engagement makes World War 1 trench warfare look pretty (which is immoral) then uses it for a thriller plotline (which is pretty suspect when you know the reality) and romance (yes, trench warfare). One of the most offensive films ever made. Alien Resurrection is really stupid. A film so bad and devoid of ideas, tension, taste, pacing, acting, that I actually prefer those tacky Alien V Predator films to it. Obviously, not a good sign. 2) Meet Joe Black, Night And The City & Assault On Precinct 13 remakes -Three remakes. All are dull. Meet Joe Black is utterly awful, lasting for three hours of dripping torture. Yep. I saw this in the cinema. Night And The City has the same problems but is shorter but has the first really lifeless DeNiro performance, an omen of things to come (so it counts for a lot of late era DeNiro films). Assault remakes one of my favourite films, taking out all the character & tension, replacing it with lots of action, a needlessly complicated plot and not one moment of visual grace. Shameful. (Note, after this one I have avoided the other remakes of John Carpenter films) 3) The Lady In The Water , The Fountain & A Life Less Ordinary- These are films that should have some merit, have an idea that could make a good film but just are stupid in plot, character and in basic development. The Fountain is the most annoying in that it has some good visuals but seems written by a learning disabled twelve year old. 4) Transformers & Robocop 3 - Its essentially the same stupid film but one has a budget and one doesn't. You'll feel like slitting the wrists of the person sitting next to you after viewing. 5) The Lover - Chief crime, beyond pacelessness, is shooting sex really badly. When I'm praying for a sex scene to be over, it's not good. A film that will inspire the thought, the hell with this, I'm off to watch Showgirls. Yes, Showgirls actually has better acting and story. (You may need to read that sentence a few times) 6) The Great Escape- Just kidding. I love that movie. But I hated The Passion Of The Christ, which is the real entry. What's that one got to do with Jesus? I simply saw nothing uplifting about it. Hence The Great Escape. Now that's a film to lift your spirits. 7) The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen & Entrapment - The obligatory Sean Connery "oh god shoot me now" entry. Could make a much longer list but these two are really stupid, utterly lacking in any entertainment value. 8) Spawn & Ghost Rider - Comic book films where the assumption is that you're such a complete moron that you won't notice the same effect move again and again (like seventies sci-fi but without the retro charm), or that no cut really matches, even in simple two-shots. Or you are fighting a losing battle working out if there's a plot. Essentially I recommend vomiting after viewing. If there was a way to make your eyes vomit after watching these two, I would make an attempt, simply to kill the pus-filled infection that probably lies below my lids following viewing. 9) The Hills Have Eyes 2 (Sequel to the original. Yes its confusing. Haven't seen the remake's sequel.) & Saw - They're stupid, sadistic, terrible. Enough said, except they're worse that all others of their kind. 10) Be Cool and Battlefield Earth - The obligatory Travolta entry. Left the worst for last. Battlefield Earth is stupefying. A film with so many plot insanities that your jaw is askew for over two hours. A film that killed the career of most cast members. Not one thing makes sense in this film. I haven't seen a Uwe Boll film but I'd be surprised if he can top this mess. Be Cool is no day at the beach either. Best of 2014Slow year for watching due to health. Will post in a few days in more detail to what I felt of the year film-wise.
Best films Boyhood The Grand Budapest Hotel Under The Skin Godzilla Snowpiercer Map To The Stars Captain America: Winter Soldier Gone Girl Downloaded The Raid 2 Noah Terrific Entertainments Edge of Tomorrow The Interview Guardians Of The Galaxy X-men: Days Of Future Past 22 Jump Street Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Most Self-Indulgent Hobbit 3 Best Directors cut Nightbreed Worst Trancendence The Amazing Spiderman 2 For TV I missed many of the most praised shows. So these are what I did or didn't enjoy. TV shows Community Season 5 Arrow Season 2/3 that played 2014 Doctor Who Series 8 The Flash Season 1 First half. Overrated True Detective Fun From Dusk til Dawn Best Of Year 2013Best of year
to the wonder upstream colour before midnight passion cloud atlas the world's end gravity pacific rim zero dark thirty alan partridge: alpha papa day of reckoning ninja 2 man of ti chi Good fun riddick the last stand iron man 3/thor 2 this is the end/ spring breakers/oz the great and powerful the hobbit: desolation of smaug Disappointing django unchained Horrible mess despite surface skills shown man of steel star trek into darkness world war z So so awful red dawn Best Of 2010Best Films (Not a very good year for films. Most of the best are comedies.)
Four Lions - Chris Morris’ first film is a twisted take on movies and point of view, taking suicide bombers with every cinematic empathetic cliché you could imagine, with a parody of the “documentary” movie fad. Plus there’s the dialogue, which is wonderfully, intelligent and inventive look at stupid men arguing. The Other Guys - Another terrific Adam Mackay -Will Ferrell collaboration, which is a twisted take on the cop buddy movie genre, but here every cop is a step away from the looney bin. Ferrell is odd and twisted as the repressed “sane” cop who slowly loses his calm (and has a repressed and funny relationship with his wife) while Mark Whalberg starts his career rehab with a really funny, prissy take on a typical Mel Gibson character, who has learned dancing sarcastically. Best of all is Michael Keaton as the over-worked boss, with two jobs to pay for his “DJ son who’s exploring his bisexuality”, who has some truly strange lines. Also Steve Coogan finally has a good American part as the white collar villain. Its kinda brilliant while having a seemingly traditional narrative. The Informant – Matt Damon in one of his best parts for Steven Soderbergh (in Soderbergh’s most Richard Lester film), playing a delusional corporate whistle-blower, who’s actually more of a crook than those he’s selling out. Layers upon layers of lies are laid out, while Damon gets more and more pathetic, as basic reality and interaction is mocked. Funny as hell, slightly chilly but over-looked film. Scott Pilgrim Versus The World – A stylish look at a man trying to get over the idea that his girlfriend has dated other men. Its enjoyably OTT in editing and reactions, very old-style in script, visually having 80’s style shallow expressions mixed with older-style framing in direction. Not as original as some reviews suggest, but a hell of a lot of fun. Michael Cera beating people up never stops being funny. The Hurt Locker – This one works great as an eccentric character story, of a man mad defusing bombs in Iraq, addicted to the rush that comes with the job. It focuses completely on the job and psychology, on the actions to illustrate character, ignoring the politics, as the characters seem to. A terrific film that seems cultish but somehow won the Oscar. Inception – This one is lots of fun, has some great visuals and ideas, interesting layers between different worlds, dreams, memories. Has good character and performances, has terrific visual ambitions. The downside is its too long, with too much action that doesn’t relate to the central idea. Still a terrific film. Not Perfect But Fun The Expendables - Not as good as the latest Rambo, which is old-style 80’s action done to perfection, but is a very entertaining action ensemble. Stallone directs pretty good but has the grace to give the best stuff to his other cast members. Statham gets to have fun with the action moments while Mickey Rourke and Dolph Lundgren get the eccentric speeches. A bit cheesy but so what. The Slammin Salmon - Another Broken Lizard film that is ignored by everyone, a funny take on Glengarry Glenross, as a group of waiters compete for the most sales in a Miami restaurant. A slowburn comedy plot that has tons of crazy characters that inject some truly wayward moments. Best is Michael Clarke Duncan as a crazy ex-boxer who is now the boss, who punches a swordfish. His words of wisdom.“First you dominate the swordfish! Then you can sortie it!” Iron Man 2 - Yes the plot is a mess. It goes on for a bit without finding a narrative centre. It could lose twenty minutes quite easily. The central drama is a bit unfocused. On the other hand, Downey is still fun in the lead, there’s some nice bits of comic book action, Mickey Rourke is a crazy Russian with lots of tattoos who pines for his pet bird, and there’s lots and lots of killer robots. Sometimes looking at the positives makes you realise what’s truly important about certain films. The Wolfman - An old fashioned Wolfman movie. And that’s it. Of course, there’s nothing new here but its just fun to enjoy the atmosphere, the actors doing some crazy acting, characters wandering around a cold English landscape. And of course there’s the wolfman going on the hunt every once in a while (especially in an insane asylum and through London). Casting Benecio Del Toro and Anthony Hopkins as wolf men did not hinder the wonderful craziness one bit. Burke And Hare - John Landis’ comeback film, which was unfortunately ignored. A shame as, like The Wolfman, it’s a fitting tribute to an older era of film-making, to the early seventies eccentric hammer movie, with lots of gore and silly jokes. There’s some nice murders, dark humour, and a nice line of equating body-snatching to capitalism. Predators - The pulpiest movie you could ever find. Its stupid, under-produced, has many wayward narrative moments (anything that’s not part of the hunt is pretty stupid), doesn’t really have an ending. And still it works. Should have a health-warning to the amount of brain cells that will commit suicide while watching the film. Disappointing The Imaginarium Of Dr Parnassus - Expected more from this. It’s not bad but Terry Gilliam never came up with anything new. The idea of the traveling show through modern times was terrific, the cast were good, there was a lot of potential in the images, but the direction seemed to throw a lot at the screen without variation. It’s a minor film by a director who I like a lot, who’s done a lot better work in the past. Worst Clash Of The Titans - This one is the front-runner for worst of the decade. Only one moment is at all competent, going to the underground. Which lasts about ten seconds. The rest is a lot of fights that mean nothing, with dull characters and no atmosphere. Worst of all, they waste some truly great myths on their way to incomprehension. Yes, there’s a sequel to dread. The Girlfriend Experience - The direction is interesting, the acting fine, the idea pretty good. But it has the worst screenplay ever. This film has plenty of dull dialogue (which is worse than bad dialogue, as it drains you as you watch) and never knows how to place its intentionally vague characters in any interesting or potentially revealing situations. Instead it meanders on, testing your patience, as you wonder why the writers are incapable of writing even a basic scene. This is like a short film stretched to ten times its natural length. Best Films Not Seen Until This Year Petulia, Up, Alice In Wonderland, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Blood On Satan’s Claw, The Box, The Vampire Circus, Theatre Of Blood, Count Yorga, Funny People, Observe & Report, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince, Fast And Furious, Trick R Treat, Ninja Assassin, In Bruges, The Hangover, Halloween 2. Most Cliched Film Seen This Year Michael Clayton – No cliché goes unturned. Self-tortured scumbag lawyer/bagman forced to re-assess his life. Corporations are corrupt. Life is awful, people die. Yawn. Can’t it just go into knowing self-parody and ease the pain. Such a dull, bloody smug and lifeless movie. Best Direct To DVD Universal Soldier: Regeneration - Didn’t expect much from this one but it was great. Vane Damme versus Lundgren at Chernobyl. Crazy genetically engineered fighting machines wandering around killing soldiers. Sure its clichéd but is also very enjoyable. One for a Friday night. Best Universal Soldier movie ever. (Practice makes perfect) TV Dr Who Series 5 – A brilliantly inventive reboot to the show. It has a great new eccentric lead, a terrific companion, and some wonderfully odd stories and villains. Especially the Smilers and Weeping Angels. The finale is brilliant, twisting the usual end of the world story into an epic but intimate fairy story. This is how you do pulp. Sherlock – Terrific, funny, spiky reworking of Sherlock Holmes, done with great pace, pulling together lots of great Sherlock Holmes stories from the past. Best of all is the pairing of Holmes and Watson, a mix of affection and real frustration on both sides. Caprica – It was flawed, had some boring parts, has been dumped by the network. On the other hand it is brilliantly ambitious, crazy, has given Eric Stoltz his best part in years, and makes robot evolution and religion very interesting. Like Dollhouse, its crazy ambition makes its flaws not worth caring about. Community – Probably the least ambitious TV show premise ever, seven odd friends at community college, somehow works due to great casting and crazy humour. The stories develop at a moderate pace but that’s not ever a problem, as it allows for odd character beats and lines. High-light, a paint-ball Mexican stand-off in the men’s toilets. 30 Rock & Chuck - Old reliable shows that I keep on watching. Have good episodes and weaker ones but the casts work well and the peaks make following the shows worth it. High points were Alex Baldwin as a muppet (30 Rock) and Morgan Grimes, now the world’s most incompetent spy, who has to arrange the rescue all the competent people (Chuck). Good TV Shows Seen This Year (I have been catching up on a lot of old shows this year for various reasons) Breaking Bad – This one is all crazy. A man dying of cancer becomes a meth dealer to provide for his family. It’s twisted, vicious and funny, with its central characters becoming trapped very quickly in the choices closing down due to dealing. Lots of gallows humour and moments of oddball humanity. Consistently brilliant, with great acting. Tinker Tailor Sailor Spy and Smiley’s People – John le Carre adaptations, with Alec Guinness as Smiley, master spy in the body of an old, tired man. Both are terrific in that the world is full of compromises, odd character details and subtle betrayals, all of which feel relevant to real life interaction, not that of a spy world. The tiredness informs the worlds. Great work from a terrific cast throughout. Carnivale – The fight of light versus darkness, set in the American Midwest during the 1930’s great depression, in a carnival. This is a terrific slow-burning show, set over two seasons, with characters progressing, showing kind and selfish sides, unfortunately cancelled before it could reach any sort of conclusion. Mad Men Series 1 – This one is odd in that it’s exactly the show you expect from the trailers. The cover of the 1960’s sophisticated world hiding darkness. And that basic simplicity does hobble it a bit at times. But it also has some great characters and dialogue, situations that go in unexpected directions for some great moments, with a terrific set of central performances. But it still doesn’t feel as smart as it thinks it is, needs a bit more crazy. The Office: American Version – I have to admit to preferring this to the original British version, which I liked but found to be over-rated and dark for the sake of it but without depth at times. The American version is broader, less consistent in tone but also funnier and more interesting in character, has character depths being slowly revealed, and finds more life, kindness and eccentricity in the situation than the British version. Psychoville – A twisted whodunit with a very strange conclusion, which is more fairytale the further it goes on, and is full of wonderful oddball characters and ideas. Best bit is clown court, with the hunt for the dinosaur soft toy coming a close second. It also has a great one-shot episode ala Rope. Sherlock Holmes (Jeremy Brett version) – A terrific moody series of adaptations, with Jeremy Brett being a wonderful, moody, twisted but sensitive Holmes, wondering through a supernatural twinged series of stories. Highlights include “The Final Problem” and “The Sign Of Four”. The Day Of The Triffids -The original BBC version, made in 1980, which had a great mood about the slow fall of civilization, as the population goes blind and plant-creatures start to eat them. While it sounds pulpy, the story and characters are placed within realistic reactions and motivations, and the darkness comes from how mankind reacts to one another. Coupling & Jekyll – Two terrific Stephen Moffat series, the first being an energetic comedy on dating, which gets twisted due to basic stupidity and repression of the characters, the second being a sci-fi-focused take on Jekyll & Hyde, which continually builds and focuses on character rather than effects. Dr Who old stories – The War Games, Inferno, Carnival Of Monsters, The Ark In Space and Revelation Of The Daleks –These are all great old-school Dr Who stories. The War Games is Patrick Troughton’s final story, a ten part epic through various wars, leading to his regeneration. It’s terrifically moody and eccentric, in black and white. Inferno and Carnival Of Monsters are Jon Pertwee, Inferno an alternative world story with evil versions of companions that’s tense and moody, while Carnival Of Monsters the best of this bunch, a terrifically eccentric tale of worlds within worlds, entrainment as sport, and odd dialogue. The Ark In Space is Tom Baker fighting for the future of humanity, against some truly dodgy effects, but it works due to some terrific ideas, character momentum and dialogue “You’re getting smarter. Probably entirely due to my influence.” Revelation Of The Daleks is a Colin Baker story, set on a planet of the dead, which is very slow moving and twisted in character interaction. Unfortunately also saw Time And The Rani, Sylvester McCoy’s first story, one of the worst things I’ve ever seen. Best of 2009BEST FILMS RELEASED THIS YEAR
The Fantastic Mr Fox - I love stop-motion yet many of the films made with the technology can seem a little cold, insubstantial. Wes Anderson lets the characters tell the story, uses the technology for mood that strengthens but doesn’t overwhelm the film, and gives the technology a freshness that its long needed. The film has wonderful settings, distinct characters and set-up, proper defined villains who don’t over-whelm the story, and great jokes. A wonderful film. Avatar - A naïve but beautiful pulp dream, about a man entering an alien landscape and finding direction. The plot doesn’t really matter with this film, the atmosphere and focus is on almost silent film-level narrative focus to evoke a sense of wonder. Which it does, repeatedly. Its flaws don’t matter. Best seen in 3-D, on the biggest screen imaginable. Inglorious Basterds - A terrific and cheeky verbal grand guignol, where various outrageous characters face off during the war, walking through cinematic conventions and slowly going crazy, especially the Nazi’s. It has lots of warmth within its genre conventions, as well as a proper sense of its situations apparent absurdities, given life in throw-away gestures. There’s not enough delightful Nazi-hunting movies around. Che Part 1 & 2 - Great on the process of revolution, its boredoms, hypocrisies, vaguely-realised success at best, depressions and ignored yet utter failures at worst, all based on ideals that few ill ever agree upon, even within the inner circle. Less about Che and more about the idea of revolution. Let The Right One In - Beautifully moody horror film, a delicate vampire story, one of the best quiet vampire films since Daughters Of Darkness and Martin. Has terrific build-up of depressed lives and lack of options, served against the supernatural, which offers its own failures and lack of options. Public Enemies - A wonderfully moody, straggly manhunt film, based on the Dillinger story but could be any criminal findings his life options winding down after the flashiness of the life dies and all there is left is desperation, paranoia and depression. Depp is good as Dillinger but Bale is wonderful as a very depressed, conflicted, spare FBI agent hunting him down, in one of his best performances. In The Loop - The film version of The Thick Of It. That’s not a bad thing. Funny as hell about the delusion and departmental insanities and bickering in the lead-up to war, with characters being frequently stupid and selfish, and of course immoral, always with the back-up of a sketchily thought-out reasoning that looks abject and idiotic within seconds of it being said. Brilliant. Only Starship Troopers is funnier about war and its build-up. VERY ENTERTAINING Drag Me To Hell - Its about killing a bank worker and succeeding. Funny horror film with only one thing on its mind, giving the audience plenty of cheap, gratuitous scares. And killing cats. A great heroine and villain, does exactly what it needs to, delivers some funny sequences, especially the exorcism gone wrong. Star Trek - Its about killing Spock and not succeeding. Terrific if shallow reboot, having few actual ideas but a great pace and sense of humour. The cast are game, the plot moves fast between the emotional points, hiding its flaws, and most importantly, the film captures the essential characters and their optimistic world. Its only the lack of purpose that brings it down but its still a hell of a lot of fun. Valkyrie - It’s about killing Hitler and not succeeding. This is a little b-movie on a large budget. Its an unpretentious little thriller, about an important assassination attempts that came very close to succeeding, keeping its focus to the difficulties of killing Hitler and its near misses, also working on the logistics of the German government under the Nazis, which makes for an interesting world war 2 film. Its strength is the spare focus of the script, using visualisations rather than reams of dialogue for telling story, its weakness is the early parts of the duelling accents, which take a while to get used to. Land Of The Lost - Its about killing Will Ferrell’s career and hopefully not succeeding. Just so funny and twisted as a film, with many strange backdrops, characters, with very odd character moments. Ferrell twists his innocent idiot acts into new, demeaning heights/depths as a man oblivious to any kind of logic/sanity, who starts a grudge fight with a T-Rex, suggesting that its dumber than the Polish, which is perfect against the strange, illogical backdrop. WORST W. - Truly, truly awful film. Just despicable in its soft, sentimental view of a truly dangerous man, not having any guts in character, politics, every character a cartoon. Oliver Stone should be truly ashamed of himself with this one. BEST FILMS SEEN THIS YEAR World Cinema - Not seen as many good world cinema films as I should this year I’m afraid. I plan to rectify this. But most of the films listed below are my actual best experiences watching narratives this year. Voyage To Cythera - A truly amazing film by Theo Angelopolous, about a former resistance fighter returning home and trying to stop the sale of land he fought for years ago, this is a visually and emotionally stunning film that’s probably one of the best film’s I’ve ever seen. The final half hour is literally stunning, even though little seems to happen. A masterpiece. Culloden - Wonderful film about the stupid tragedy of the battle of Culloden, showing how it was under-planned and fought badly, before going on to show the brutality of the victors and the horrific aftermath of the battle for Scotland. Peter Watkins framed this as if making a new documentary, which leant it a real directness and clarity over the tragedy, making the emotions stinging. Comrades & The Bill Douglas Trilogy - Stunning films, the Trilogy about a boy growing up in poverty and learning painfully how to be a man while Comrades is the story of a Union born and crushed, studying the poverty and tragedy as it takes its tolls on individuals and their families. These are amazing visual experiences that are difficult to do justice to in words. The New World: Longer Cut- Stunning re-edit and expansion of Malick’s masterpiece, giving a greater sense of the seasons and lost emotions within the tragic first few years of American colonisation. Visually unmatched of course. The Agronomist - Jonathon Demme’s wonderful documentary and Radio Haiti and its wonderful, tragic owner/manager. A great portrait of the tragedy of a country seen through the story of one man’s tragedy, told by a friend of the dead man. Demme’s best film, showing many emotions through brilliant use of music and documentary image. The Cremator - The rise of fascism seen through the eyes of an idiot who eventually kills all of his family to be a good Nazi. A hilarious, very dark tale of a man losing his small soul, causing tragedy to all he touches. Scary in that there were probably many like him, and continues to be. Satantango & Damnation - Bela Tarr does not make films for easy viewing. Satantango is seven hours long. Damnation is shorter but a masterpiece. What seems to be black and white misery are continual stories of people trying to survive complicated, un-idealised lives. Simply wonderful. The Merchant Of Four Seasons & Fear Eats The Soul - There are other Fassbinder films seen this year but these two stood out, both operating on the failures of working class men and women, everyone trapped by society and their own demons of what they should be. Truly wonderful and far beyond and more complex to what Britain does with social realism. The Match Factory Girl & Calamari Union - I have also seen more Kaurismaki than these but these two films stood out, the first about a young woman trapped in a working class hell of dysfunctional family and lovers, the second about the attempt to find a life for a large group of men, all wondering around a city with the same name, never finding any true direction. Two masterpieces. Alexandre - A Sokurov film about an old woman visiting her grandchild in a war zone, finding the war to be more complicated and tragic than circumstances will allow anyone to acknowledge. This film takes its time, showing the humanity and flaws of all. An amazing experience. How I Won The War & The Bed-Sitting Room - Two Richard Lester farces with more on their mind than jokes, both evoking an atmosphere of dread and lack of basic comprehension. War has an idiot leading a group of soldiers to death in World War 2, always sticking to a social convention that is corrupt and useless. Bed has survivors of World War 3 trying to find a way to survive a surreal landscape, where meaning is gone and direction is absurd. Two intelligently bleak films. I have also been rewatching lots of Ozu, which I’ve covered before. Ozu is one of the greatest directors of the twentieth century. Practically every film he makes is of stunning quality. It is difficult to spotlight only one or a few of his films. Pulp The Mist - Frank Darabont finally went nasty with this one, easily his best film, a twisted tale of human survivors trapped in a supermarket during a deadly mist, slowly turning on one another. Essentially a very downbeat siege movie, with a decent cast and a killer punch line. Rarely do horror films go as dark as this. The Orphanage - A terrific Spanish-language film, about a mother looking for her adopted son, slowly trapping herself in a large house, driving herself mad with trying to work out what happened. The twist, when it comes, while perhaps not entirely surprising, does have an emotional punch (even if it has a slightly OTT coda) but the film is creepy, atmospheric and always striking visually. The Legend Of Hell House - A creepy little movie based on a Richard Matheson novel, about four people trying to solve the mystery of a haunted house, getting the problem right yet wrong. Has a terrific set-up and development of characters into nasty violent and sexual situations, some decent actors working these problems, ad a decent pay-off, which is where these tales usually fail. A nice little ghost story. Brides Of Dracula & Kiss Of the Vampire - Two wonderfully atmospheric vampire films. Neither of them are the most famous of these films but are among the best, Brides being a Peter Cushing-led vehicle, trapping vampires at a local castle then a girls school while Kiss has a family of vampires trapping a travelling couple. While the plots seem anonymous the atmosphere to both are wonderful, with top-level visual sequences and great individual shots. Kiss almost works as a pulp version of Eyes Wide Shut. Demons Of the Mind & The Reptile - Top-level eccentric Hammer, Demons focusing on the incestuous madness that traps a rich family, twisting conventions and monster stories to reveal what made the legends of the horror genre while The Reptile has a father trying to protect his daughter, failing and leaving a lot of dead bodies behind. Yet it is affecting. Two truly wonderful, under-seen horror films. Rasputin The Mad Monk & Plague Of the Zombies - Two oddball hammer films. Rasputin, enthusiastically played by Christopher Lee, who uses his powers to manipulate Russian aristocracy, becoming a unique and twisted monster, while Plague has an aristocrat simplifying the local population for profit, while providing some great atmosphere. While trying to have the normal horror elements, these are actually strong stories that don’t need the horror. The Curse Of Frankenstein, The Revenge Of Frankenstein & Frankenstein And The Monster From Hell - Three terrific Frankenstein films starring Peter Cushing, the first two showing early promise, starting with an ugly monster, then in Revenge having a handsome monster. Both have wonderful pathos and savagery, Cushing a cruel mean protagonist. Monster From Hell finds Cushing at the end of the series, as an older man, watching yet another monster fail while working in an asylum, the film having time to have the monster story against wilder characters and a wonderful, near absurdist atmosphere. Outside of James Whale, these are the best Frankenstein tales. Captain Kronos - Vampire Hunter & Paranoiac - These two are utterly insane films with great moments that directors being respectable would never manage. Whether it being a vampire who travels through the day, stealing youth instead of blood or Oliver Reed caressing a skull, these two were unforgettable. B-movie work at its very best. Tarzan The Ape Man & Tarzan And His Mate - Two great Tarzan films, that set up the Johnny Weissmuller-Maureen O’Sullivan films. They have a terrific air of leads, Weissmuller a great Tarzan while O’Sullivan brings the acting and the needed story beats, some terrific villains, both natives and white hunters, and some terrific action. Tarzan movies could never really top these two films. Tarzan and his mate also has nude swimming. 30 Days Of Night - A great little vampire movie, with Josh Harnett leading a group of survivors through a night that lasts for 30 days, while being attacked by vampires. Like the similar Pitch Black, this is superior atmosphere and character-led pulp that eventually lets loose with some terrific monster action. Halloween (Remake) - This one was very under-rated, a film I fully expected to hate but didn’t, spending time with a young Michael Myers before he goes on his murderous rampage. While the second half horror stuff is fun its not as good as the original. What is terrific is the first half, as young Michael slowly goes mad, with some very striking visual moments. Not a great film in its totality but its moments gives it a lot of drive and its better than many a smug genre title. Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift - Best full-on trashy b-movie I saw all year. In fact I saw it in January 2nd and twice since then. The plot is basic butt the movie is fun, has a good lead, a great car chase gimmick in drifting, and a general, appealing unpretentiousness and good humour. And its in Tokyo, which is an interesting backdrop. What more do you need for a b-movie. Easily the best of the generally under-achieving series. BEST TV SHOWS Battlestar Galactica Season 4.5 - Great ending run to a terrific show. Highlights were the mutiny (especially Zarek wiping out the civilian after they had been spineless and stupid one time too many) and Tigh getting messed around by his various loyalties to human and cylon, and his conflicting emotions, with a terrific moments of thematic threads coming together at the conclusion, topped off with an ambiguous ending and a great final line for Baltar “I used to be a farmer once“. 30 Rock - Funny as hell throughout, with many strange, strange jokes and plot lines, is the most insane current comedy, with the best right-wing parody in Alec Baldwin’s character that there’s been for years. They will parody anyone for a laugh, with a stunningly good run of great supporting characters. Best supporting character, of course, is Dr Leo Spaceman, a man who advises a large breakfast before major surgery. And that’s one of his more responsible decisions. The Thick Of It - Now focusing on the failure of labour itself, rather than one weak minister, its humour has gotten sadder and tired but is subtly vicious, as everyone looks trapped within a cycle of defeat made by their own horribly stupid ambitions, unable to see beyond them, even the competent people like spin-doctor Malcolm Tucker. No-one has a clue and everyone are like tired animals ready to be put down. The Nicholson-Tucker “This shit just got real” take-away scene might be the funniest of the year. Chuck - The most engaging show of the year, aiming to please and not being bogged down by angst. It has a terrific lead and outside of 30 Rock, the oddest and funniest supporting cast. It pretty much delivers exactly what it promises, a silly fun spy romp set in the workspace. Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 7 - Some great comedy, odd situations, such as how to dump your cancer-victim girlfriend without looking like a bastard, best of all was in little moments between Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld, two wonderfully twisted individuals. Futurama: The Wild Green Yonder - A great finale for the series of films, which then led to a renewal and more shows. Has a great nasty sense of humour about environmentalists and industrialists. Fry is even more stupid than usual, which is an achievement in itself. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles Season 2 - Much stronger than the first year, with a wide range of characters, some nasty twists and a brilliant ending. After the disappointment of the films, this one really redeems the Terminator storyline. It has technology versus humanity subtly developing in strange plots, looks at the oddness of time-travel at a personal level, is about the futility of the struggle for most of its characters on the day to day. The characters coming back from the future wars were especially interesting, all doomed in one way or another. The John Connor character also showed interesting, devious moves that suggests a cold, calculating leader, which was very appreciated. 24: Season 7 (makes up for 24: Season 6) - Melodramatic and implausible yes. But grittier and pissed-off than before, with the return of Tony paying off, as he is a frustrated and damned, going full-bore into something that’s usually back-story, about how to truly go under-cover. Interestingly the finale was more about ostensibly supporting characters and their arcs (Tony and a FBI agent Renee, who goes extreme into unconventional methods) rather than Sutherland’s Bauer character. Was the same guilty pleasure that it was before, mixing the compulsive with the insane. Dollhouse - This came together in the second half of the first season then has started a great build that has developed into the second season, the stories developing a very dark undercurrent of an apocalypse beginning with technological prostitution and dreams of what could be, as people’s memories are wiped and reprogrammed every week, starting small but becoming a larger conspiracy. As the situation becomes increasingly insane and paranoid, it gets more interesting, playing with identity and exploitation in a twisted way. Has a very good collection of flawed and compromised supporting cast-members, they developing to be the dark life of the show around a engaging lead. SHOWS SEEN FROM PREVIOUS YEARS Monty Python’s Flying Circus - Brilliant. I’ve only seen individual sketches and episodes before. This year I watched them all and it was terrific, smart, silly, twisted, disrespectful. Best of all is that they truly went for the insanity in ways that many modern comedies never would. Even the episodes that are weaker had enough connective brilliance to bring them up to a level above and beyond. Some of the better later episodes had episodes that kept the same characters throughout, which gave it another edge of lunacy and darkness as things got crueller and nastier and led to the films. Star Trek Seasons 1 - 3 (The Shatner episodes) - Shatner being moody then sensitive, then going after any available woman, Nimoy being stable and dignified. Old school effects, decent traditional sci-fi stories that had the appel of freshness in their playing. What’s not to love. Still superior to everything hat followed. Old Dr Who’s The Invasion - An old Troughton serial, versus the Cybermen in London. Great fun. Genesis Of the Daleks, Pyramids Of Mars, The Brain Of Morbius, The Deadly Assassin, The Talons Of Weng-Chaing, City Of Death, State Of Decay - Tom Baker being eccentric and genuinely alien, the plots being gothic yet fresh, the dialogue having lots of subtle humour to it. Best era Dr Who. The Caves Of Androzani - Best Peter Davidson story is his final story, with lots of crazy factions killing each other and Davidson trying to survive. And failing. Has the best new doctor first line by Colin Baker. Miami Vice Season 3 - At the point of about to get worse and unwatchable but not quite there yet. Still full of terrific, stylish, dark mood. Buck Rogers In The 25th Century - 70’s insane camp. Can’t really defend this one but liked it. Oh my. |