Vertigo (1958)Watched On: Blu-Ray
Score: ⭐⭐⭐1/2
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 4.2/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 8.3/10
My Review: It pains me to give a Hitchcock film anything lower than 4.5 stars, but this one just isn’t up to scratch with Rear Window or Psycho or even The Birds. It definitely has a very intriguing, well-shot storyline for the first hour or so, with great performances from both of the leads, reaching a crescendo with possibly the best dream sequence in the history of cinema. And then it keeps going, stripping away every strip of likeability that our protagonist had and ultimately not contributing much at all. It ends with a scene that feels more Hitchcockian than any of the unnecessary hour leading up to it, one that brings to mind the climax of Rear Window, but that scene culminates in an ending that is so abrupt and unsatisfying it is almost comical. Overall, Vertigo is a great half a movie.
For A Few Dollars More (1965)Watched On: Stan Australia
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 4.1/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 8.3/10
My Review: Actually better than A Fistful of Dollars. Sergio Leone’s great camerawork is complemented with a more complex story with better characters and even more action. Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name is badass as always, but it’s Lee Van Cleef who really steals the show here, his elegance contrasting perfectly with Eastwood’s grittiness, with a believable backstory and motivations to boot. The film also has a great villain, who is menacing throughout and is explored as the story progresses. Not many Westerns would take the time to develop their villains, but this one does. The soundtrack is fantastic, and feels much more thematically appropriate than in Fistful. There were a couple of scenes where diegetic sound was important to the plot but the score drowned it out, but it’s still a great score. At 132 minutes as opposed to 99, it loses some of Fistful’s breeziness, but there is not a moment wasted and the constant action ensures that it never drags. The action is perfectly edited and choreographed much better than was the industry standard at the time. This is the deeper, darker second entry, and further carves out the space for the Dollars Trilogy to become one of my favourite trilogies of all time. Bring on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
Sherlock, Jr. (1924)Watched On: YouTube
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 4.3/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 8.2/10
My Review: Quietly amusing and quirky. It boasts some fantastic special effects for the time and contains one of the greatest dream sequences ever in film (which I also said earlier this month when reviewing Vertigo). It’s compelling, light viewing that doesn’t require too much thinking but is certainly entertaining and funny. Buster Keaton is fantastic and it’s amazing how much can be communicated without conventional dialogue. A high four from me. I’d definitely recommend it to people who want to go back to the early days of cinema.
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966)Watched On: Stan Australia
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 4.4/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 8.8/10
My Review: It’s now no surprise to me that Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is considered one of the greatest films ever made. The epic conclusion to Leone’s Dollars Trilogy (that is as standalone as the other two installments), it frames an epic journey to $200,000 buried in a grave against a backdrop of the American Civil War. It is part-western, part-war film, and does each side justice with some of the best cinematography I’ve ever seen complimented by extraordinary editing and a relentlessly hummable score. While Clint Eastwood’s Blondie is still as stoic and badass as he was in the previous two films, he’s given new depth by his setting. In the third act, his act of kindness towards a dying army captain solidified his place as a hero rather than a antihero. He makes up the ‘Good’ part of the title, and is joined by Lee Van Cleef as the ‘Bad’, a more villainous rendition of the character he played in For a Few Dollars More, and Tuco (the ‘Ugly’), whose hyper-excitedness is a good counterpoint for Eastwood’s man of few words. It’s the interactions between these three that give the film much of it’s sense of humour, which is often perfectly realised by the editing.
The war steadily grows in the background until it is inescapable and the characters have to cross battlegrounds to get to the grave. There is very much an anti-war sentiment here (the film looks down on both sides rather than framing one as heroic) and it blends surprisingly well with the western aspects. In a way, the soldiers are similar to the titular gunslingers, pettily duelling over a few small bits of land, or a few small bags of coins.
And duel they do, climaxing in a three-way gunfight that is perhaps the most brilliantly edited and scored scene of the entire film.
The ending is very satisfying, and as the last man standing rides into the mid-afternoon sun, you know only one thing: you’ve just witnessed a true masterpiece.
Snowpiercer (2013)
Watched On: Stan Australia
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐1/2
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 3.6/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 7.1/10
My Review: Great direction, great performances, really cool world building. Actually decently funny for such dark plot points. I really enjoyed it’s use of slow motion, which emphasises every breath, step and blow. Some of the action scenes were a little chaotic - not hard-to-follow, per se, but the camerawork was very shaky - and some of the editing was a bit choppy, but none of those things really bothered me that much. This is an excellent modern sci-fi film with fantastic visuals, and is certainly an underrated gem.
Dirty Harry (1971)
Watched On: Netflix AU
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 3.8/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 7.8/10
My Review: Dirty Harry is a classic crime film that still holds up brilliantly today. This is partly due to how many films appear to have taken inspiration from it since then (I noticed similarities to movies such as Speed and Die Hard With a Vengeance). Clint Eastwood is great as always as the titular character while all of the supporting cast also deliver good performances, particularly Andy Robinson as the psychotic ‘Scorpio’ killer. The film is fantastically edgy and definitely is a product of it’s time, as a story that could almost exclusively be told in the fallout of Vietnam. The screenplay is immensely quotable (‘Do I feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?’) and the cinematography is actually above average, which I wasn’t expecting. There are a couple of examples of nice composition, and there’s a brilliant shot at the end of the stadium scene. The action scenes are all entertaining and easy-to-follow, right through to the film’s brilliantly bittersweet ending. If I had some gripes with the film, they’d be related to the lighting (some scenes are way too dark). I’d have also liked to see some of the supporting characters get further fleshed out. Those are only minor things, though; this was really good.
Hero (2002)
Watched On: DVD
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 3.8/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 7.9/10
My Review: Hero, a 2002 Hong Kongian martial arts film, takes inspiration from Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon to craft one of, if not the, most beautiful films I’ve ever seen. In fact, I’d go so far to say that this is the superior film between the two. Each portion of the film is distinguished by a different colour, from red to blue to green and more. This is visually striking by itself but is made even more stunning by the brilliant cinematography. I could praise the visuals of this film for days but I don’t want to make it seem like this is style over substance. There is a real story here, about love, unity, and the power of mind and words over violence. All of the performances are great and the story structure is perfect. All of the action scenes are fantastic - standouts included the black-and-white fight between Jet Li and Donnie Yen in their minds, and a bit where Li and Maggie Cheung fend off against a bunch of arrows using a sword and, in Cheung’s case, cloth. Some of the scenes also use slow motion to visceral effect.
Hero is both effortlessly cool and staggeringly beautiful, and we really can only thank Quentin Tarantino for bringing this masterpiece to English audiences.
Groundhog Day (1993)Watched On: DVD
Score: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 3.9/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 8.0/10
My Review: Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray. If I could change one thing about it, I might use editing to tighten some of the repeated scenes so that it becomes less repetitive. Still, this was pretty good.
Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray. If I could change one thing about it, I might use editing to tighten some of the repeated scenes so that it becomes less repetitive. Still, this was pretty good. Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray. If I could change one thing about it, I might use editing to tighten some of the repeated scenes so that it becomes less repetitive. Speaking of repetitive, I feel like I’ve written this before. Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray. If I could change one thing about it, I might use editing to tighten some of the repeated scenes so that it becomes less repetitive. I’m starting to identify with the existential horror story of being stuck in the same day over and over, unable to make your mark on the world until, inexplicably, you do. Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray, who I should start taking the advice of. Maybe I should repeatedly kill myself. Hold on, I’ll go and get the DVD of Jurassic Park III. Groundhog Day is a funny and touching romantic comedy featuring a great performance from Bill Murray. Killing myself with a talking raptor didn’t work, so I guess I’ll just be nice to everyone instead. Joe Johnston, all is forgiven! Hey, I’ve made it past 6 am! Hey Joe, your movie’s shit!
The Upside (2019)Watched On: Amazon Prime
Score: ⭐⭐⭐
Avg. Letterboxd Rating: 3.2/5
Avg. iMDB Rating: 6.8/10
My Review: The Upside was a charming, completely inoffensive film. Kevin Hart was okay but Bryan Cranston was fantastic in his role as a quadriplegic. Nicole Kidman, meanwhile, sounded like she was struggling to suppress her accent. Some of the cinematography was nice and the film had a good message, but the script was definitely very cliche. After about a minute, you’ll probably be able to predict every succeeding plot point. What you might not be able to predict are the jarring diversions into Hart-brand comedy, including a scene involving a shower, which add comic relief that wasn’t really necessary. It would be nice if they had just let the film stand on it’s own without feeling the need to add in comedy, because the over-the-top shenanigans of Hart’s character on his own feel a world away from the gentle humour that his chemistry with Cranston brings to the film.
Overall, I’d say that the film is good. However, just like how Cranston’s character gives Hart specific orders not to go to any extraordinary measures to revive him, I wouldn’t recommend going to any extraordinary measures to watch this film.
Ranking For the Month:
9. The Upside
8. Vertigo
7. Groundhog Day
6. Sherlock Jr.
5. Dirty Harry
4. Snowpiercer
3. For a Few Dollars More
2. Hero
1. The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
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