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L.A. Confidential 1997
L.A. Confidential is a film I just knew was excellent despite never having watched it before.
How wrong I was though.
L.A. Confidential is a masterpiece.
There just wasn't a moment where I wasn't amazed, bowled over by its greatness. Every scene contains excellence.
It's probably a bit of a rare-breed, a mainstream Hollywood noir-inspired film containing enough blood and murderous violence to satisfy the masses, whilst maintaining a serious thrilling story populated by brilliantly dense characters. RARE. Curtis Hanson…
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Premium Rush 2012
When is an action movie not an action movie?
Or in fact, what is it that makes an action movie an action movie?
1 - Clear stakes are needed. So perhaps like someone having to deliver a package from point A to point B with someone trying to stop them?
2 - A hero who is heroic through his skill. Which could maybe be said about Joseph Gordon-Levitt and the way he handles his bike with masterful skill?
3 -…
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Man of Steel 2013
It's very easy to fuck up a superhero movie.
You have to appease the geek hardcore, whilst attracting the masses and garnering new fans. You have a massive budget to payoff, high expectations, and people queing up to criticize your hard work. Even when this is achieved you still actually have to make it good.
Very few, if any have ticked all these boxes.
But even the ones that have have haters.
Which proves to me one thing..
..there are…
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Man of Steel 2013
It's very easy to fuck up a superhero movie.
You have to appease the geek hardcore, whilst attracting the masses and garnering new fans. You have a massive budget to payoff, high expectations, and people queing up to criticize your hard work. Even when this is achieved you still actually have to make it good.
Very few, if any have ticked all these boxes.
But even the ones that have have haters.
Which proves to me one thing..
..there are…
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The Town 2010
Easily one of the best films of the last 5 years.
This rightly acclaimed crime thriller is made for grown-ups. With superb performances of well formed characters.
An old fashioned thriller that is good more times than it is not.
Ben Affleck is a proper actor, and is fast becoming a powerhouse director. He will almost certainly have an excellent career.
And who saw that coming?..
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Wayne's World 1992
The 14th Funniest Film Of All Time.
Every viewing of Wayne's World is indeed party time. And excellent.
The humour is silly. But sometimes the best humour is silly, stuff you dont really need to think about. You can pigeonhole this film along the with Bill and Ted movies, but in truth it's impossible to confy into a genre. It's humour and brilliantly formed characters are endearing to all. To males and females, old and young. Wayne's World is endearing to the masses.
It is this that makes it one of THE defining comedies.
Way.
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American Psycho 2000
American Psycho contains pretty much all of the elements of an underrated masterpiece.
It's flawed. It contains no emotion. But maybe the director meant to make it that way? To give some credit to the film makers, it looks amazing. It basically takes place entirely indoors, in about 5 location. It's this claustrophobia, and the sterility of Bateman's apartment in particular, that just adds to the psychoticness and horror of what takes place. It is no surprise that a stage…
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Raising Arizona 1987
It is impossible to hate a Coen brothers film.
It is also impossible to mistake a Coen brothers piece of work for anyone else's.
That is some achievement.
Raising Arizona is not their best film, that would be True Grit, and it isn't their funniest, that would be The Big Lebowski, but this is still a highly original Nd a very funny film.
Nic Cage has rarely been better. Holly Hunter never disappoints, and the support of what were to…
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A Fish Called Wanda 1988
“I love robbing the English – they’re so polite!”
One of the finest comedies ever made. Cleese and Palin deliver Python trumping performances, and Kevin Kline is simply fucking outstanding. I cant put it any more eloquently. One of the few Oscars given for a comedy performance? That I can recall anyway.
The only minor disappointment is that Cleese and Palin only get to share one scene together, near the end. But hey!
Great script. Great Performances, and some great editing from the veteran Crichton. He bowed out on a high.
SU-FUCKING-PERB.
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Zoolander 2001
Yeah, so its patchy AS FUCK.
But when Zoolander is on, it is really fucking on.
Zoolander is my 19th favourite film of the noughties.
