Tuesday 1 May 2012

April Round-Up: Part 2


Welcome back!  Just to be unconventional, here's my top 11 films of April!  If you missed the bottom 11, please click here.

11. Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Lasse Hallstrom, 2012)
Fortunately this is not the world’s dullest documentary.  It’s actually an ok film about faith with a bit of romance.  Review here.


10. The Vanishing (George Sluizer, 1990)
Pretty ridiculous tale of a man obsessed with finding out what happened to his vanishing girlfriend.  The lengths this guy finally goes to are absurd but do lead to a brilliantly bleak ending.


9. The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton, 1955)
The kids aren’t alright.  They’re being chased by a lunatic.  A classic that stands the test of time... mostly.  In many ways this is way ahead of it's time.  I could see them remaking this quite effectively but they would be hard pushed to find someone to beat Robert Mitchum's eerie performance.  I never realised just how huge a homage Spike Lee was giving this film with the Radio Raheem Love Hate speech in Do the Right Thing.


8. Lars and the Real Girl (Craig Gillespie, 2008)
Or Ryan Gosling and the surprisingly understanding community.  When an odd but pleasant chap brings home a blow up doll, the community goes along with his declaration that she is a real person.  It's a sweet and sympathetic film that relishes in the goodness of people.  Therefore it's hard not to like.


7. Vanishing Point (Richard C. Sarafian, 1971)
Like Easy Rider but with just one guy and a car.  The death of the sixties never looked so cool or so exciting.  Great car action, a naked girl on a motorbike and an outstanding soundtrack.  Existentialist cinema at its best.


6. A Night to Remember (Roy Ward Baker, 1958)
And a film to remember too.  James Cameron bought the rights to this before making his ‘version’ and clearly took notes from this impressive production.


5. The Day After (Nicholas Meyer, 1983)
One hour into this drama you have a spectacular series of explosive shots that send this film spiralling down into chaos and calamity.  It then turns harrowing and unforgettable.  An important film.


4. Tomboy (Celine Sciamma, 2011)
A beautifully observed slice of life about a little French girl who just wants to be one of the boys. Really well observed and engaging.  Features absolutely perfect performances from it's young leads, particularly the titular tomboy.  A little bit heartbreaking but also incredibly inspiring.


3. 21 Jump Street (Phil Lord, Chris Miller, 2012)
Laughed my ass off.  Haven’t seen so many dick jokes in a film for awhile but when they’re this funny, who am I to complain?  The sequence when the two protagonists take the new recreational drug of choice had me laughing harder than I have in a film for a long time.  Side-splitting, and totally irresponsible stuff.


2. Cabin in the Woods (Drew Goddard, 2012)
Plays with horror conventions while playfully mocking the horror movie audience.  Smart, funny and probably even cool for non-horror fans.  See review here.


1. Titanic 3D (James Cameron, 2012)
Ok so it's not a new film but it has been upgraded and I did see it in the cinema.  Still unbelievably epic.  I have lost absolutely no love for this film and it was a great experience to see it while being very aware that the Titanic was on its voyage 100 years ago to that very night.  The 3D works brilliantly in places and not so great in a few others.  Nevertheless my heart will go on for this and you can read why here and here.  I’ll never let go Jim Cameron.  I’ll never let go.


To top it all off, I am in the process of arranging a meeting with legendary production designer Peter Lamont of Titanic and Bond film fame.  You can be sure I will be blogging about this if I make it happen.

So what do you think of my list and rankings?  Should the infamous Human Centipede 2 have been top of the list?  Is it unfair to put Titanic 3D as number one?  Am I clinically insane?  How come I don't rate old films as high as new films?  What have you seen from this list and what's your favourite?

18 comments:

  1. The girl in the film Tomboy looks staggeringly like Andrey Arshavin

    Anyway, I was reduced to tears (of laughter) in 21 Jump Street, and that doesn't happen often.

    Titanic = meh

    and Salmon Fishing in the Yemen is perfectly fine.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL don't know who that was but looked him up! I guess there is a similarity! Yeah same here with 21 Jump Street. I haven't laughed so hard in a long time!

      Delete
  2. You saw some good films! Vanishing Point is on my watch-list

    Lars and the Real Girl was different, and stayed with me, great performance by Gosling. The Vanishing also impressed me, and you know I'm a fan of Cameron's Titanic.

    Haven't seen movie, few year ago, I read A Night to Remember by walter lord , and the details are very well-researched. Describes events from several points of view.That should be on anyone's shopping list, if you're going to read about the Titanic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Vanishing Point is cool. Lives up to it's reputation. Yeah the book of ANTR is great and the film is extremely impressive considering the time it was made. Some moments are almost exactly the same as in Titanic.

      Delete
  3. I really liked Lars and the Real Girl, especially the subplot about Lars and his lovley and shy coworker - the scene where he rescues the teddy bear is absolutely adorable.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah that was sweet. It wasn't a film I expected to like but it was very charming and it has a great heart.

      Delete
  4. Tomboy and Lars and The Real Girl looks great. And it seems that everybody loves 21 Jump Street the movie. Not surprised that your #1 is Titanic, great choice! And you've manages to watch some nice movies there I see.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Both are well worth a watch, especially Tomboy. I really liked that one. And 21 Jump Street appealed to my sense of humour. It's not a great film I suppose but it made me laugh more than any film has in a long time.

      Delete
  5. Interested in 'A Night to Remember'. Does it still hold up well today? I would inevitably compare it to 'Titanic', but from what I hear its still worth it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really does! And it's fascinating to see the differences and similarities between the two films. I recommend it!

      Delete
  6. Looks like you had a good month. I'm glad you got to see Tomboy and enjoyed it. It really is a nice little French gem.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah caught up on a lot of classics and really enjoyed some of the new releases, particularly Tomboy!

      Delete
  7. Loved Cabin in the Woods - fantastic film. I can happily geek out over that for hours.

    Good month's worth of viewing you did there!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah Cabin in the Woods will definitely need a re-watch sometime in the future!

      Delete
  8. Just picked up Night of the Hunter via Amazon and watched it again the other night. FYI still awesome :-) Great call on the Spike Lee reference I totally missed that. Might be time to rewatch Do the Right Thing.

    Also still in shock that you have never read a comic book. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. haha yeah I've read Watchmen if that counts. But that's it. Never again. I'd rather watch a film or read a real book. Comics and graphic novels are just a strange mix of the two that doesn't work for me!

      Yeah I teach DTRT so I get to watch it a couple of times every single year!

      Delete
  9. Hi Pete, it looks like you had an awesome April! Glad you saw and enjoyed Night of the Hunter and Vanishing Point, a couple favorites of mine. I'm going to have to make it a point to see Lars and the Real Girl soon, as that has been stuck in my queue for far too long.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah I'm pretty sure your it was your movie project that reminded me to watch those! Lars and the Real Girl is very sweet, not overly memorable but at least unique!

      Delete

Join me in conversation! Please leave a comment on your own pondering.