Favourite films: Miami Vice

From now on, I’ll be rambling on about some of my favourite films. Starting with a film that recently hit the favourite mark, Miami Vice.

There are many reasons for me loving this film but If I had to name one, it’s how Sonny Crockett is handeld. We are constantly shown how tired he is of his current life, how he doesn’t seem to have the lust for it, how he is in need of something that makes him feel alive, this is something one can relate to.  As he goes on and meets the person that eventually makes him care again, I felt close to the character, it’s not usually something I go through while watching films. What Sonny goes through, the way he finds hope, lives it and ends up losing it had me feeling with the character. Of course, all of that wouldn’t have been possible without the use of music and the strong performance by Collin Farrell.

 

the best films I saw in January!

*First time viewings only.
A Scanner Darkly (Linklater, 2006)
A Serious Man (Coens, 2009)
Bright Star (Campion, 2009)
Bullit (Yates, 1968)
High and Low (Kurosawa, 1963)
Los Olvidados (Buñuel, 1950)
Point Break (Bigelow, 1991)

 

Favourite films from 2009

#10
The Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call – New Orleans
Directed by Werner Herzog

#9
The Brothers Bloom
Directed by Rian Johnson

#8
In the Loop
Directed by Armando Iannucci

#7
Star Trek
Directed by JJ Abrams

#6
Adventureland
Directed by Greg Mottola

#5
A Prophet
Directed by Jacques Audiard

#4
Public Enemies
Directed by Michael Mann

#3
A Serious Man
Directed by Joel and Ethan Coen.

#2
Bright Star
Directed by Jane Campion

#1
Inglourious Basterds
Directed by Quentin Tarantino

 

top twentyfive

25 Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg, 1981)
24 Citizen Kane (Welles, 1941)
23 Persona (Bergman, 1966)
22 The Empire Strikes Back (Kershner, 1980)
21 Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
20 The Conformist (Bertolucci, 1970)
19 Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954)
18 The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Leone, 1966)
17 Amadeus (Forman, 1984)
16 The Third Man (Reed, 1949)
15 Fight Club (Fincher, 1999)
14 La Dolce Vita (Fellini, 1960)
13 On the Waterfront (Kazan, 1954)
12 Eight and a Half (Fellini, 1963)
11 Trainspotting (Boyle, 1996)
10 Blade Runner (Scott, 1982)
9 The 400 Blows (Truffaut, 1959)
8 Rififi (Dassin, 1955)
7 Rumble Fish (Coppola, 1983)
6 Taxi Driver (Scorsese, 1976)
5 Tokyo Drifter (Suzuki, 1966)
4 Apocalypse Now (Coppola, 1979)
3 Pierrot le Fou (Godard, 1965)
2 Once Upon a Time in the West (Leone, 1968)
1 Zodiac (Fincher, 2007)

 

The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)

William Costigan Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio) is chosen to go undercover and stand next to a murderer because he really does not have anyone or anything in his life. William’s isolation is handled with depth and tense scenes that make one feel for the character.  One can learn much about the character by just watching the expressions on his face, those red eyes & the tense nature of the Costigan add even more to it. These things made me feel for William in almost every single scene. It all looks so great for him in the end, everything is worked out and he seems to be heading to a bright future. Out of nowhere comes a bullet that goes straight through his head and just like all the other deaths in the film , it’s shown in a calm way, no melodrama, no over directing, just bam and move on . That did not prevent me from feeling some kind of sad emotion because of this incident. I would not feel that way if it was not for how well they handled the character’s isolation & how he did not have anyone but Madolyn to talk with.
Collin (Matt Damon) is guided away from his beliefs by Frank Costello and ends up as a cop working undercover for Frank. Everything goes well for him but he has this macho attitude, as if he is trying to hide who he really is. An example of this is when his friend Barrigan tries to talk about the church, Collin decides to change the subject as fast he can and calls a group of firefighters “homos”.  However, when he is with Madolyn he feels like he can open up after a while. For example, He tells her that he is not strong enough to leave a relationship; this is not something the masked Collin would say.

The Departed examines two interesting characters and makes us feel for both of them. At the same time, it manages to constantly remain a “fun” film with its dialogue and characters. It contains some visual candy here and there; the scenes at the “344 rooftop” are truly beautiful.  A bonus is the typical Scorsese humor like “She fell funny”.

 

Rififi (Jules Dassin, 1955)

In the first 30 minutes, we are introduced to the characters and get to know them a bit, how they act, who they love and the friendship they have together. It amazes me how every consequens the characters suffer is mostly because they care about eachother and the  ones they love, it’s almost a clear pattern.  One of the best long film sequenses I’ve seen is from Rififi, a over 20-25 minute silent sequense where the characters try to break into a vault, it’s really calm all the way but yet it doesn’t ceaze to excite for one second.  This is a tone the entire film has, it’s calm but somehow exciting in many ways.

 

Ocean’s Eleven (Soderbergh, 2001)

What makes me love Ocean’s Eleven is the cast that works so well together and is overall very charismatic. They feel comfortable when they are on-screen together, it’s almost like watching people have regular covnersations in real life. Whenever Brad Pitt and Clooney are on screen, it really feels like a regular real life conversation between two friends. This is held up strongly by the chemistry they have between eachother and how well written the dialogue between them is.

The tone is calm all the way through and the film never takes itself too seriously, that allowes the viewer to just sit back and enjoy the ride. Ocean’s Eleven is also visual eye candy at times, one can just  get lost in all those Vegas colors and lights. A brief sequense I really liked was the conversation Rusty and Ocean had in the car a short time after they met in the film, it’s shot in medium height from behind. Though not much light or colors are shown there, I still found myself getting lost in the sequense even though it didn’t last very long.

The fun dialogue fits well into the film and is handeld well by the cast, it managed to make me atleast smile in most of the scenes. It’s very enjoyable seeing a film like this, a film that’s never forced and like I mention above very calm. But what amazes me is how it all just goes so well together, the dialogue, the calm tone and the characters. Overall, I’d say it’s a film that feels natural all the way through.

 

Supernatural (4 seasons)

Supernatural is held up alot by the casting of the two main characters, Sam and Dean. Jensen and Jared seem so natural when they are on-screen together. Dean  balances the humor in a way that prevents Supernatural from being a humorless show, he is simply one of my favourite characters of all time. He showed time to time how much he cares about his brother Sam and he never stopped to amuse me.

In the first season of Supernatural we get to know the main characters Sam and Dean more and more as the season goes on. As that happens, Sam and Dean become more and more likeable and interesting characters.  It’s just perfectly paced throughout, the bakground story on the brothers made me as the viewer to constantly want them to meet up with their father. It felt like this was what it was building up to, and it does not dissappoint. We got a tensed finish to the season, the last two episodes really manage to show how much this family wants to get the yellow-eyed demon and how they will not stop at any cost.

It seems that every episode of this show is important for the future of the season, as it teaches us more and more about the characters and effects heavily on the season plot. Examples of this are Mystery Spot (Season three) and It’s a Terrible Life (Season four). In Mystery Spot we get to see Sam show just how far he’ll go for his brother and it turns out that it develops to madness. In It’s a Terrible Life, we are shown what destiny means in this show and how you can’t escape from it.  It’s really hopeless for Dean and Sam to even dream about a “normal life” since this is their destiny. It’s a lesson Dean learned after It’s a Terrible Life, Sam on the other hand learned it after the death of his girlfriend.

Supernatural is a exciting and fun journey throughout all 4 seasons, it just improves and improves as it goes on.  Misha Collins performance as Castiel is for me the best thing ever from the show,  the convincing look Castiel has in his eyes as he struggles against feelings is somewhat creepy

 

Observe & Report [Jody Hill, 2009]

Observe & Report is unlike most comedies I’ve seen, it’s just different. I guess one could say that it is pretty unique it its own way. The film really doesn’t have much tension, which kind of surprised me since I was expecting a tense and violent comedy. This is however nothing negative, I liked it this way. Observe & Report is mostly a very calm film with hilarious, disturbing and at the same time sad moments. An exception is the main character Ronnie fighting all those cops,  the film builds up well to the emotional downfall of Ronnie. The emotional downfall is shown in a hilarious and tense way from the start, but then it gets more and more disturbing as we see it develop.  It’s quite interesting how I was laughing one moment and just two seconds later I’m feeling sorry for the character I was just laughing at. Almost as I felt bad for laughing, even though I was supposed too.

I don’t think I’ve seen Seth Rogen act this good before, this was definetly his most challenging role and he was the perfect man for it.  He managed to make me laugh at some scenes that really were just disturbing, like beating a kids head with a skateboard while he’s escaping. Just seeing such a serious character do that in slow mo is.. well, it’s funny, disturbing but funny.

I’m surprised Observe & Report got made, but I’m glad it did. It constantly challenges itself on making disturbing and sad moments very funny, it mostly succeds. My favourite part from the film would definetly be Ronnie chasing a nude and disgusting guy in slow motion, while “Where is My Mind” by the Pixies is playing in the bakground. In the end, we get a happy ending, was it real or was it to show how stupid people can be? I do not know, it was hilarious though.

 

The five best films I saw in July!

*First time viewings only

Alphaville (1965)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard

After Hours (1985)
Director: Martin Scorsese

Pierrot le fou (1965)
Director: Jean-Luc Godard

Adventureland (2009)
Director: Greg Mottola

Public Enemies (2009)
Director: Michael Mann