Fight Club

Not in the course, but David Finchers' "Fight Club" is one of my favourite films, if not my number one favorite film of all time. I think the film is utter genius, and it has two of my favourite actors in it, Edward Norton, and Brad Pitt. If you haven't seen Fight Club, please make sure you do see it. It has one of the greatest twists ever, the humour in it is great, everyone acts perfectly, and just the idea of Fight Club is amazing. I feel really cool when I watch this film, and sometimes want to take Tyler Durdens advice and get rid of my possessions, start a Fight Club, and cause Mayhem.

"Warning: If you are reading this then this warning is for you. Every word you read of this useless fine print is another second off your life. Don't you have other things to do? Is your life so empty that you honestly can't think of a better way to spend these moments? Or are you so impressed with authority that you give respect and credence to all that claim it? Do you read everything you're supposed to read? Do you think every thing you're supposed to think? Buy what you're told to want? Get out of your apartment. Meet a member of the opposite sex. Stop the excessive shopping and masturbation. Quit your job. Start a fight. Prove you're alive. If you don't claim your humanity you will become a statistic. You have been warned- Tyler"

Did I say it's amazingly clever? There are so many little clever things, and big clever things, it's just amazingly clever! Go here to read some of the awesomely cool and clever things in the movie.

I think the storyline is one of the best, and I don't think the film got the recognition it deserved. The film, the actors, the crew, everyone who worked on or in this film deserves Oscars.

I've changed my mind, don't just see this film, buy it, live it even! It's just so good!

Best scenes in the movie-
1. All of them

Best lines -
1. All of them

Possibly the greatest movie ever.


"Man, I see in fight club the strongest and smartest men who've ever lived. I see all this potential, and I see squandering. God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables; slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our Great War's a spiritual war... our Great Depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars. But we won't. And we're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off." - Tyler Durden

Three Kings

"Three Kings" is an American film directed by David O. Russell. It stars good ol' George Clooney, Ice Cube, Mark Wahlberg and Spike Jonze. It is set in Iraq during the first Gulf War. The movie picks up after Saddam Hussein has signed the ceasefire agreement and America are on their way out. George and his crew come across a map leading to Saddams' gold in someones bottom, and they set out to get the gold. Along the way they find some people who really need their help and Clooneys' character Major Gates makes a choice to help them. They shoot a number of Iraqi Rebuplican guards, ending the ceasefire. We then see their struggle to get the civilians across the border, whilst keeping the gold, rescue Troy Barlow (Wahlberg) and get out alive.

I enjoyed this film, despite the fact I dislike America and their invasions deeply, I found it entertaining. As my lecturer Fred Goldsworthy said, it's nice that the film leads up to the action, rather than the action sequences being the backbone of the movie. It was a refreshing change. I had never seen the movie until tuesday, I hired it out and watched it that night.

The only critiscm I have is I didn't like the areas where they had made the frame-rate slow and jittery, and that I feel some of the violence like the exploding cow was taken a little too far and became unnecessary.

I really liked how they had altered the colours on the film, it gave the film a really nice look. I also think that the cinematography was good, and captured what it would have been like, especially in areas like the scene towards the end of the film after the helicopter had been destroyed and there were two Republican Guards left who snipe Troy and Conrad, and also the scene where the Republican Guard gas the fleeing soldiers and they lose all visibility.

I felt all of the actors in the film performed very well, especially Clooney and Wahlberg.

A good film.

Scoop

'Scoop' - Woody Allens' latest. A murder-mystery comedy about how a student (Scarlett Johansson) and a bumbling magician (Woody Allen) trying to expose a serial killer in London. Scarlett Johanssons' character Sondra suspects the Aristocrat Peter(Hugh Jackman) and they fall in love.

I thought Woody Allens' last film 'Match Point', a tragic thriller was a good movie. So I went to his movie expecting another good film. I did enjoy it, but I don't think it was anything special. It does have some good Woody humour, and Hugh Jackman is great in it, but I think it was weak in areas. I don't think Scarlett Johansson did as well as she could have, she especially seemed to make some lines lose some of their funniness.

The cinematography is really good, especially in some of the scenes that show the cityscape of London. The images are just really nice. Also some of the movie is quite clever, like towards the end when Peter tries to drown Sondra, and believes he has it all figured out, she can't swim, he knows about her fake ID, but there's one more twist, something he overlooked....(I don't want to spoil it if you haven't seen it).

I do think that people should hire it and see it, but I don't think people should expect anything as good as his better works.

As it is in Heaven

'As it is in Heaven' is a Swedish film directed by Kay Pollack. It is about a famous conductor who suffers a heart attack and then retires from his work. He moves to the town he lived in as a young boy and buys the school he went to, where he had been bullied a lot. He rekindles his love for music and takes over the school choir, then falls in love with a young girl in the choir. Soon he realises he has become surrounded with other people's problems. The movie continues....

Being a musician and someone who was bullied at primary school (for being fat - like one of the characters in this film) I felt this movie had a lot of emotions and themes that I could relate to. I think that Michael Nyqvist (who plays the main character, Daniel) delivers a really good performance. I felt that I could feel as he was feeling during the movie, and that was really nice. I think all of the actors in the film were great as well, especially Helen Sjöholm who played Gabriella. I think Nyqvists' final scene in the film was really wonderful (not for sadistic reasons), as he was so blissfully happy despite his situation.

The film has had much success, bringing in more money than 'Titanic' at one cinema, and has been playing for over 27 weeks, despite being originally released in 2004. It was nominated for 'Best Foreign Film' at the Academy Awards, beaten by 'The Sea Inside'. I feel if it had been released a year earlier or later, it would have won. 'As it is in Heaven' is a really wonderful film.

Bicycle Thief

De Sicas' "Bicycle Thief" is a really great movie in my opinion. It was made in 1949, and is about Ricci and his family in post war Italy, which was suffering from Depression at the time. When Ricci gets a job which relies on a bicycle, he is overwhelmed with relief and dreams of finally being able to get his family back on its feet. He and his wife sell some of their belongings so Ricci is able to afford to get his bicycle out of the repair shop. Life seems like it is about to change, but Ricci’s only hope of a new and improved future for his family is taken from him - by a bicycle thief. We then see Ricci spiral downward on his day long journey with his young son to find the bike, until he resorts to trying to steal someone else's bike, lowering himself down to the level of the man who stole away his last chance.

I thought that this movie was really good. It doesn't suprise me that it is constantly voted one of the greatest movies of all time. The themes and desparation of the movie are things that most people (except for the wealthy) can relate to, as most of us have been desperate for something at some stage in our lives. It is very tragic watching Ricci and his boy on their seemingly hopeless quest, and you do feel happier at the points in the film Ricci and his son are happy, like in the restaurant scene, but ultimately it is a tradgedy. I was very interested to hear that the actors in the film weren't really actors at all, they were people in the situations that their characters were in for the film.

I think that this is a masterpiece of cinema.

Double Indemnity

'Double Indemnity' is a film by Billy Wilder. The plot is about a successful insurance salesman, Walter, who finds himself being talked into murder by a beautiful woman, Phyllis. They commit the murder hoping to profit from an ingeniously set up double indemnity insurance policy on the life of Phyllis' husband. The plan works perfectly until Walter and Phyllis lose their cool and everything falls apart.

I thought this film was great, it was really well thought out, it got me thinking.... hmmm that plan could work. I thought it was a really clever film, and I loved the 'Shut-up baby' lines. It was nice to see a film from that era so I could see why people make parodies of them in the way they do. I thought the film had some really good tense, anxious moments, and I loved the voice over narration. The film had me captivated for its entirety, and I really enjoyed it.

An old movie, but still one I wouldn't mind watching again.

The Grand Illusion

A french masterpiece of film by Jean Renoir. The films story takes place in World War One, where french soldiers are captured by the Germans. The film follows De Boldieu, Marechal, and Rosenthal as they try to escape from numerous German camps and prisons, before eventually escaping and taking refuge in a cottage.

I liked the fact that this was a war movie but had little violence, and it was nice to see the light hearted and witty humour that has been lost over the years. That being said, I do think that the film was a little long, and the story could either have been trimmed down, or ended at different points throughout the film.

The acting is great by all of the actors, I liked the relationship between Stroheim and De Boldieu, and how Marechal felt distant from the people so close to him because they had a higher social standing. It was nice to see some real issues. The scenery, being filmed in Europe, is really beautiful, and this beauty compliments the fact that the characters in the film are trying to find beauty in their situation and their lives, against the odds.

A nice film, but I did lose interest a couple of times.