Trainspotting

"Choose life. Choose a job. Choose a starter home. Choose dental insurance, leisure wear and matching luggage. Choose your future. But why would anyone want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?"

I first viewed this amazing film a few weeks before starting this blog, so unfortunately I could not have reviewed it until watching it again, which I did, just recently. The previous paragraph is basically a sum up of the opening and closing quotes, which I think are perfectly used in their places in the movie. The opening quote sets up the mood for this glorious film, and the ending one perfectly concludes it. Between these two points in the movie is one of the greatest hour-and-a-halfs I have witnessed in film.

Despite the dark and morbid subject matter, Trainspotting does have many moments of humour that make me laugh out loud. Combined with spots of drama, this movie displays a great combination of cinema that I adore. Ewen McGregor does a brilliant job as narrator Mark Renton: a 25 year old heroin addict who lives with a few other junkies, including Sick Boy and Spud, in his run down flat in the impoverished part of Edinburgh. His non-junky friends, who seem to be the "normal" ones in society include the psychopathic Begbie, and Tommy, the one who has his life together. Throughout this film we see life through the eyes of these heroin addicts and how they cope unsuccesfully with life.

Danny Boyle's direction in this movie was superb: some of the best themes of cinema I have seen. He also uses great metaphors in this movie, such as Renton diving down a toilet just to retrieve two suppositories; this scene shows how far he will go to get one last hit before he "kicks his addiction." (Other Danny Boyle films include Slumdog Millionaire and 28 Days Later).

After my second viewing of Trainspotting, it occured to me that this is my favourite movie, beating out the long running 2001: A Space Odyssey. My rating for this glorious movie is 9.8/10.

A Clockwork Orange

I have seen this movie at least 3 times, but I have never seen it all the way through. Something always stops me, such as: I have fallen asleep (out of tiredness, not boredom), the video loader stopped working, and even a power outage. Although this did not make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things, it was nice to finally see it in its entirety. As "disturbing" as this movie may be, it is very well done and has a good message about people's views of goodness in others. A Clockwork Orange, directed by Stanley Kubrick, is about a group of teenagers set in the future who hold no regard for anyone, and often perform acts of violence and rape. When Alex is arrested, a new treatment to "cure" him is available, raising controversy in the judicial system and in the government. I find the language in this movie (especially in the book) very interesting; it combines Russian, English, and slang.

Stanley Kubrick is one of my favorite directors, being tied for first place with Quentin Tarantino. All of his movies that I have seen (from Dr. Stranglove and on) are masterpieces, and I encourage anyone reading this to watch as many of his movies as you can. A Clockwork Orange is not my favorite film by him, but it is still an amazing movie. The filming style is so clever that it makes you feel nauseous. It is not because it is so-bad-its-sickening, but because Kubrick wanted the audience to relate to Alex in the movie, which is a great cinematographic skill to posess.

Rating: 9.0/10

Paranormal Activity

I am so pleased to see a horror film that has been made after the year 2000 that actually genuinely scared me. This movie was made for only $35, 000 and has already grossed over $8, 000, 000. It has done very well considering it was released in around 10 cities on the first weekend it came out a few weeks ago. Ever since I saw the trailer on TV, I have been wishing it would come to Mission, knowing the day would never come. I was ecstatic when I first heard the news last Thursday. The film is about a couple who document their lives due to the girlfriend Katie's paranormal experiences throughout her entire life. As the film progresses, so does the paranormal activity in her house, which is terrifying to see on screen, especially the scenes at night.

This movie is now up in my list of scariest movies, along with The Shining and The Evil Dead. I am still scared at night ever since Monday when I saw it.

Rating: 8.9/10

Das Kabinet des Doktor Caligari

Das Kabinet des Doktor Caligari is one of those most interesting art/horror films I have ever seen. The scenery in this silent German 1920 film was incredible, eerily reminding me of any Tim Burton film; it seems that this movie is where he got all of his inspiration from. The movie starts out with the protagonist, named Francis, telling an old man how he met his fiancee. The story starts in a small town with an annual fair. At this fair, an old man named Dr. Caligari has an exhibit featuring a somnambulist named Cesare. Francis' friend asks this somnambulist when he is going to die, to which he replies "tomorrow at dawn." The prophecy is coincidentally fulfilled, ultimately unleashing the audience into an artistic nightmare.

I found this film extremely ahead of its time. I did not reveal the whole plot because of spoiler reasons, but the story as a whole was better than many horror movies made in a long time. I could have written a review on the set design; the obscurity in it is definitely out of this world. If you don't plan on watching the movie, at least look at what I'm talking about on Google images.

Rating: 8.6/10

Shichinin no Samurai

The movie Sichinin no Samurai, known in English as The Seven Samurai, was a Japanese film by Akira Kurosawa. It starts out in a small village in 16th century, isolated in fear by bandits that will steal their crops needed to lead a prosperous life. The village seeks out seven samurai to protect them, after hearing of how this worked for other villages. I downloaded this movie a month or two ago, but just until recently I watched it, after being recommended films by Akira Kurosawa from a friend. His movies have apparently been influenced by Shakespeare (I would not know, having only seen one of his movies), and his movies have influenced other great movies, such as A Fistful of Dollars and Star Wars. So in theory, Star Wars is basically A Midsummer Night's Dream in space (just kidding).

Shichinin no Samurai was a very good film showing the struggles of the peasants and samurai: the peasants with their bandit problem, and the samurai having to hold off the bandits from the village. I am glad that my friend told be about Akira Kurosawa, and there will be surely more of his movies on my movie list.

Rating: 9.0/10

Charade

This is one of the best movies I have seen recently that I have not previously viewed before. Having no idea what Charade would be about, I was pleasantly surprised throughout the entire movie, being shocked and surprised by twists and suspenseful scenes. Not only was this film a mystery/thriller, but it was also a comedy. Being able to combine these two aspects is the reason for the rating I will give it later on in this review. The movie is about a woman (Audrey Hepburn) who's husband was recently murdered by being thrown off of a train. This was not an accidental murder, but he was killed over a quarter of a million dollars that he and four others had stolen from the government. Now those men are after Hepburn, and eventually each other, looking for this money. Wherever it has gone, they will do anything to get it.

I was greatly surprised by the many, many, many twists in this movie which had be wondering throughout. If they made mysteries as good as this nowadays, I think that the genre would be saved, and would encourage me to watch more Hollywood-made mysteries. (That'll be the day...)

Rating: 8.7/10

The Others

I've heard from some people that this movie is good, and I've heard that it is bad. Because the person saying it is good is more reliable than the one saying it was bad, I decided to watch it (unfortunately already knowing the twist at the end). The story follows a family of three in a large house during the World War II era. The mother (Nicole Kidman) is very religious, and is very cautious with her children; they are very sensitive to the sun, which could cause their demise. Her carefulness results in the curtains being closed at all times, and having doors locked behind you when you enter a room: rules in which the mother demands the new servants obey. Kidman begins to hear strange noises in rooms where no one is occupying, and on one day, she experiences the others' presence in her house.

I quite enjoyed this movie, and I look back upon my friend's opinion on movies (including the bad one on this), and realize I should never take his word again. The shadows used in this movie, due to the closed curtains, really give a supernatural and dark mood to the movie, something that Hollywood horrors rarely do today (see review of Disturbia). I give this movie 7.6 out of 10 for these reasons, and because of the twist at the end that I already half knew, so luckily it wasn't completely spoiled.