Pinocchio - Walt Disney

Of all the Disney films, I always felt that Pinocchio was the darkest and more adult of them all, and upon watching it again, I can see exactly how dark it is. It explores the problem with vices such as violence, alcohol and smoking. It also deals with child abduction and child slavery, as well as a creepy old single guy playing with dolls. This film would have Freud's mind working overtime!

The film is lovely though, it really takes me back to my childhood, but I do not think it should be a child's film. Children turning into donkeys and old Gypsy men locking children in cages is not something a 5 year old should be watching. One thing I forgot was the abundance of songs in the film, which was a welcome reminder of the greatness of the film.

Another thing which stands out is the lack of women in the story, the only female characters are the Blue Fairy (who is shown as perfect and beautiful) and the little girls running to school (who are insignificant to the story) This lack of women shows that this film is meant to be a morality for men and little boys, that little boys should not partake in vice otherwise they will end up as donkeys.

For all the twistedness this film shows, it is a classic and I really enjoyed watching it again. 8 out of 10 is a fair score for a dark kids film.

Hobgoblins - Rick Sloane

This film is the epitome of bad! This is part of my worst list and this is just awful, the story is flimsy, the acting is at best wooden and the monsters are just shit. An obvious rip-off and cash in of the Gremlins films, Hobgoblin includes little "monsters" which tap into your deepest desires and uses those desires to kill you.

The first point I would like to make is that the film does not make any sense, the first person who dies at the hand of these things is a security guard, who dies from falling off of a stage (in his fantasy) to end up dead on the floor of the Hobgoblin's vault. There is no stage in there, but subsequent fantasies include the real setting. Its just utterly confusing.

Secondly, the monsters are shit. When the characters fight with them, they are fighting with teddies of the Hobgoblins and when they are running around they are obviously just hand puppets.

Bad bad bad bad bad bad bad film. Awful. 1 out of 10 because I laughed once. Bad!

BAD!

Gran Torino - Clint Eastwood

It turns out I made a mistake during my last blog. I said the next film was Pinocchio but infact it was Gran Torino starring, directed by and produced by Clint Eastwood. Having not much experience with the Eastwood brand, only having seen Dirty Harry before, it was nice to see what an Eastwood modern film is like. It was dark, it was gritty, it was racist and it also was satisfying.

Firstly I felt the acting was not brilliant, Eastwood was dodery and the supporting characters were just a little wooden for me. But it is the story which is the saving grace of this film. The old man hates his surroundings but then once he starts to embrace them then they learns to like them. The difference in this story is Eastwood plays an aging Vietnam vet who is very racist and the neighbours are all Hmong residents from China.

Also the twist at the end was pretty amazing, it got you guessing but you could never see it coming. It was very good! Mainly though, I felt the film was a little too slow and that bugged me in the end. I wanted it to end.

This film exceeded my expectations and for that gets a 8 out of 10!

Rambo: First Blood - Ted Kotcheff

Firstly an apology for not posting more recently, I have had exams and today I finished them. Hazaar! I plan on watching a lot more movies and doing this blog!
Anyway, Rambo. Well it is an alright action movie, but it all seemed a little bit needless. Rambo may not of killed anyone, but the running and the punching and the maiming all seemed a little too much. OK they were trying to kill him but at least actually kill them.

I did enjoy the idea that this repressed anger came from being tortured and captured in Vietnam, but that was a very brief glance at his past, the rest was Sly Stallone running and using his knife for random purposes.

Brian Dennehy as Will, the Sheriff was a good antagonist, but for me the film brought about the question: Who is the villain? John Rambo who is hunting all of these innocent people, or the civilians who are just trying to restore law and order to their little town?

Overall this film got a 5 out of 10 from me, I enjoyed it but there was no real substance to make it a perfectly enjoyable movie.

Seconds - John Frankenheimer

This was a difficult film to get hold of but after watching it I am glad I did try so hard. It is a science fiction film based upon the idea that people can get another chance at life by having intense plastic surgery. Starring Rock Hudson, the film gets off on a pretty boring note, but once he enters the Comapany it starts to pick up.

Now the twist at the end is not particularly surprising as I guessed it, but it was still a twist and worked very well. Parts of the film (the grape stomping scene) was so surreal it reminded me of Juliet and the Spirits which I have viewed before.

Overall this film gets a 6 out of 10, because it was good and interesting but did not give the punch which I would of liked.

Hold Me While I'm Naked - George Kuchar

The reason this is so quick to come after the previous blog is because George Kuchar's film is only 15 minutes long. This makes it easy to view and I need to say that I did not enjoy it. It was an obvious look at sexual frustration and loneliness, but I did not really think it was anything great.

One scene which really got me hooked was the shower scene in which a choir based song was sung over scenes of people in the shower. It just felt right, and it felt like a triumphant scene which showed the characters getting on with their lives.

Rating wise, this gets a 3 out of 10, the reason it has 3 is because I mainly did not get the film but the one scene pushed this above the 1 it was going to get.

If you are interested in seeing this film then it is available online at: http://www.ubu.com/film/kuchar_holdme.html

Doctor Zhivago - David Lean

Sorry I have not written for a long time, I am currently going through some exams at University so have not had a lot of time to watch films but after today's film I decided to watch the next one! Dr Zhivago, always seen as a classic, has now been viewed. It pleasantly surprised me. It was a very lovely film, it was not funny, it was not scary, it was not thrilling; it just felt like a nice movie.

The bit which interested me the most was the part in the train where Zhivago and his wife and her father are riding to somewhere better. Another scene was the marching through the snow and the rebellion on the street, otherwise it was a lovely film.

I really cannot describe how on the fence I am with this film, on one hand it actually held my attention for 3 hours plus, but on the other hand it didn't capture my imagination. I do not think I can explain anymore. Just one more note, Alec Guinness rocks my world, and Julie Christie was very beautiful in her hay-day.

It gets a 5 out of 10 from me, due to all the reasons stated above. Sorry I did not say more but it is hard to say something about a film that I do not know what I think about it.

Jacob's Ladder - Adrian Lyne

I had read that this was a pretty scary movie so I was looking forward to this. I have recently found a great love for horror and this film disappointed me if I am going to be honest. It made me jump once, and I felt it was too story orientated and not scare orientated!

I did enjoy the psychological aspect of the film, with the constant fantasies and flashbacks proving exciting stuff, but the whole Vietnam story just grated. It was nice to see a small role by Ving Rhames as a fellow Vietnam vet. One moment made me laugh out loud, and that was when Tim Robbins started crying over a picture of Macaulay Culkin. It was just such a surreal moment when the boy from Home Alone was on the picture, but Culkin was Robbins' dead kid so it made sense in the end.

The demon actually looked menacing but you only saw them for half seconds. One scene which did sorta creep me out was when the demon seemed to have sex with Robbins' girlfriend. Freaky! I want to say I enjoyed the twist at the end, I like that none of that happened and that it was all a sort of Purgatory rather than real life. Finally Robbins and Home Alone kid got to go to heaven.

Anyway as I was so indifferent about this film it gets a 6 out of 10. Hazaar!

Catwoman - Pitof

What a God awful movie this is! Just bad. I hated this so much, it was like watching a cat being strangled by a cliche. Oh god it was awful. I think there should be a new classification of film: SWSS (Shit With Sharon Stone) It is the worst film I have seen in a long time.

Halle Berry (what ever happened to her?) is such a bad actor in this. Her character uses poor excuses for puns, including "purrrrfect", and it just makes you cringe. The storyline was bad, it didn't make sense, it didn't engage the audience and it felt so contrived. Sharon Stone is possibly the worst actress ever, and her superpower was boring. Oh so you have super hard skin, just like a crocodile, but its smooth so you look young!

I really have nothing else to write about this rubbish film. Its a 2 out of 10 for me. The special effects were not bad at all and Halle Berry is a stunning woman!

On The Town - Stanley Donen

The first musical on the list and one I was not familiar with. I am a big fan of musicals so it was nice to watch something as enjoyable as On The Town. The three sailors and their quest for girls had me in stitches. It was pretty witty to be honest and the hour and a half just flew by.

I couldn't give you a favourite character as every single one was hilarious. Frank Sinatra knows exactly how to act and be funny, while Gene Kelly was exceptional as a sailor who found and lost his love in the space of 20 minutes. This love of his, played by Vera-Ellen was stunning. One of the prettiest girls I have seen from the 40's and a very good dancer as well. The scene called Miss Turnstile Ballet was genius and could be done by a group like Diversity from Britain's Got Talent. It was mesmerisingly brilliant.

The only downside for me was the songs, I felt New York, New York was pretty catchy but the rest did not feel like real showstoppers. They were just that little bit too bland to be catchy. They were sung very well they just were not very good.

Overall I enjoyed this film and from me it gets a 7 out of 10. The next film to be reviewed is going to be number one from the worst movies ever, Catwoman. I can't wait!

Angels With Dirty Faces - Michael Curtiz

The first film I have watched in this list that features many classic actors. These are actors I class as being seen as the greats of my mother's and her mother's generation. James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star in this gangster film, but this has a twist. Its a very simple story; two friends, one ended up as a gangster, one as a priest (which is obviously going to cause friction) but when the gangster does wrong, the priest starts a campaign against the criminal underworld.

OK maybe the plot is not simple, but the acting is marvellous. James Cagney IS Rocky Sullivan, he is cheeky, rough and cocky as a gangster should be. For me the best actor was Pat O'Brien. Playing a priest has to be difficult, but playing a priest with a slightly dodgy background and a best friend who does not conform to the ideals of religion has to be pretty tough. But O'Brien pulls it off, you believe he cares for his friend but also cares for God.

I am not a fan of the 'Dead End' Kids. I hate kids, they annoy me, and one of them looked like a pig nosed boy from my secondary school, so they were not my favourite characters. But I did enjoy the joviality they added to the plot, their constant youthful vigour and more importantly, their little subplots that added a little variety to the movie.

Overall I really enjoyed Angels With Dirty Faces, and I like the idea that the only reason the priest didn't become like the gangster was because "he couldn't run as fast as me" This film gets a 7 out of 10 from me. Thoroughly enjoyed it!