239. Universal Soldier (1992) - August 27th
I doubt I'll ever tire of these 90s action schlock pieces. Despite the fact that most of them are so bland that it can be hard to tell the differences between them, there's a certain charm, a comfort perhaps, to how obviously bad they are, always cheesy in a way that hearkens back to their spiritual predecessors from the 80s, but without the star power or charisma or originality to make them unforgettable. You know going in that it'll be bad and you know exactly why, but the underpinnings of the film are essentially a shadow of something great, so the film is both mildly entertaining and enjoyable to pick apart, and there's nothing easier to watch because it. In the case of Universal Soldier, the best part of this is that Dolph Lungdren definitely knows this and plays his part accordingly. He overemphasises the puns and gives every terrible line its excessive due, with a look in his eye and a smirk on his face that shows he knows this is the type of movie you shouldn't try to maintain your dignity in, and he has a lot of fun because of it. Van Damme doesn't quite reach the same heights of ironic enjoyment; he still has a little fun and doesn't exactly take the role seriously, but he's still the protagonist and as a result trying to walk away from this with a smidgen of genuine respect, which obviously doesn't work because this movie is so bad that it's slightly worse than Street Fighter, and Van Damme came out of that looking better precisely because he seemed okay with being a little goofy. Aside from a few flashes of fun from the three main characters, this film is painfully generic in terms of story structure, action, and theme. Bits of military dehumanisation and government corruption play out as obviously as you would expect in a film that's merely replicating old sci-fi/action ideas; it's not just the ideas of the movie, but how they're executed, that feel dated, even at the time of release. The action is hardly bombastic enough for the type of movie, only reaching an appropriate peak by its finale. This is hardly worse than other subpar schlock of its kind, but that's part of what makes it just a little worse; it doesn't do anything to stand out, and only Lungdren's performance and the few puns he's given feel somewhat memorable. - 4/10
240. The Hurt Locker (2009) - August 28th
This was apparently the only Best Picture winner I haven't seen from the last decade, and I'm at once sorry that I'd been missing out for so long and glad that I've finally seen it, because it's near-masterpiece level filmmaking. The film is so evocative, leaving you on this near-constant edge and able to tilt you ever so slightly whenever it wants. Director Kathryn Bigelow and Cinematographer Barry Ackroyd put you right in the dirt, up close and personal with every experience of the soldiers, but deliberate in action when they pull you out of it; you at once see events essentially as the soldiers see it, and as a sort of disorienting, out-of-body experience, which fits beautifully with the nuance given to Renner's character, at once contrasting our audience reaction with Renner's, and highlighting Renner's reckless addiction to this sort of action in his life, disconnecting from himself in order to approach a situation with fervour despite the danger. This is consistently the best aspect of the movie, especially as it regularly brushes up against Mackie's perspective that yearns for life beyond this, but this is probably no better shown than in the scene with the cluster of IEDs, which is the first time all of these elements are brought to fever pitch; not everything feels quite yet solidified about the characters yet, so it's not quite foregone how they'll behave and how things will go, and at the same time they're well developed enough by this point that you're starting to have an idea. The conflict both within the characters and between the characters is laid over this incredibly tense action involving very real stakes, and is shot in a way that both emphasises how gritty this all is and suggests with incredible visual execution so much about Renner's character. - 9/10, maybe 9.5.
241. Solaris (2002) - August 29th
Somehow even smaller in scope than Tarkovsky's film, this is still an intriguing and ponderous sci-fi in its own right, just stripped down from an already low-key film; Kelvin doesn't even have family to consider in this version, his character arc and therefore the audience's perception is almost entirely about his lorn love. That's not a bad thing, per se, it just means that the themes pertaining to the individual have less to juxtapose against the power of an incomprehensible being; the film does address this by reducing the overall meaning of the Solaris planet to individual perspective, but as an immediate reaction I'm not sure how I feel about this. As for everything else, the performances, the tighter editing that maintains the slow and considerate pace of the story, the intimacy of it all with that ever so slight and intentional discomfort nagging at every corner, it's all in aid of a version of the story that does less, but does what it does very well. I do love this sort of stuff, films that put the universe against the existence of a single person; the way themes are discussed always go one of two ways, either deeply personal or completely impersonal, either Solaris, or 2001. The disconnect in this the gives it a dream-like quality, like we're truly inside someone else's head, connecting us with Kelvin who connects us to Rheya, and the film has incredibly emotional strength because of it. This is just as true of the Tarkovsky version, of course, but it's a feat to replicate a subset of those emotions in a way that's seemingly distinct to this little niche of sci-fi. - 7/10
242. Bowfinger (1999) - August 29th
Ah, Eddie Murphy, there was a time where your work was some of the funniest in comedy; Bowfinger certainly echoes those halcyon days. Of course, I give credit to Steve Martin too, who is technically the main character and has his fair share of good jokes, but Murphy's delivery is so genuine and hilarious; it's so refreshing to see him and not think that his soul has been sucked out of him the same way it has Adam Sandler. The film is a great send-up of Hollywood in general as well, both of the unforgiving filmmaking industry and of the culture, with the MindHead cult and Murphy's conspiracy and sexual proclivities making for some of the most cutting lines in the film. Combine that with the film's cynical take on stardom through Heather Graham's ever-wonderful work, and you have a truly biting piece of work that feels way ahead of its time, while still being a laugh-out-loud-a-minute comedy. At the same time, however, so much cynicism is ultimately bad for the film, as its plot and satire become mean-spirited a lot. Murphy's Kit Ramsey is genuinely mentally unwell, but is ultimately dehumanised by the con that is the film's central plot, his sickness exploited by Martin's Bowfinger. I can see how the film tries to okay this by making Bowfinger a generally despicable person at all times, his scenes with Graham's Daisy both fast and witty and uncomfortably too real, but with his ultimate success and the support of 'the little guy', he's put too much in a positive light for his meaner actions to be addressed in some way by the film. It's still a really funny film, one of the better straight comedies I've seen over the last three years, but that meanness is more often than not a problem for me. - 7/10
243. Without a Clue (1988) - August 31st
This had a genuinely hilarious premise; Holmes as a character created by Watson and portrayed by a buffoon actor is both a great twist on the classic Holmes and Watson dynamic with some meta-commentary about Doyle getting sick of Holmes thrown in. Unfortunately, the premise can only carry the film so far, and while the comedy keeps it afloat most of the time, notable chunks of this end up being frustrating, some of the jokes are far too drawn out in terms of dialogue to be particularly funny, and the film's jump out of the classic Holmes and Watson dynamic is followed very quickly by a slump in to more formulaic territory of learning to appreciate friends. It's honestly fine; Caine and Kingsley can basically do no wrong in their parts and make a lot out of what they're given, but neither of them are given much at the same time, so their individual parts work well but rarely flourish together, with most of their combined scenes stuck on the initial idea of Holmes as buffoon without building much on it until they're apart. - 5.5/10
244. 13 Going on 30 (2004) - August 31st
Andy Serkis does the moon walk to Michael Jackson's Thriller; that alone is enough for me to love this film far more than I expected to. It's not a great film by any means, with a plodding, predictable plot and only a handful of notable performances (Serkis, Greer and to an extent Ruffalo), with nothing else about it really standing out aside from perhaps the prototype of 80s nostalgia as culture, but as saccharin as this is I just can't help but like it for the light-hearted fun it manages to have. It's more than a little catty, which is great, and goes for the obvious cringe humour, which is not so great, but it always tries to be a laugh first, which makes up for the sometimes strange and unconvincing melodrama, and makes the sentimentality of its message more palatable. Plus, once again, you have Andy Serkis dancing to Thriller, ending with a moon walk; that is peak cinema if I've ever seen it. - 6/10
245. Magic in the Moonlight (2014) - September 1st
This feels like lifeless self-parody. Magic in the Moonlight has all the simplistic theming of Woody Allen's other later works without any of the complex emotional nuance that makes exploration of those themes compelling. The ideas of rationalism, cynicism, faith, and the fluctuations of all three feels half-baked and forced, with so little energy to them that it's a wonder they even bothered. Such material leaves similarly underdone performances; Firth and Stone are terrific actors, but there's hardly anything written for them that works well between them, with only Firth's constant jabs having any sort of vigour. None of it is egregious, mind you; it's simply bland, inoffensive and shallow. Still, a moment should be taken to appreciate the cinematography, colour grading and shot composition; the movie looks gorgeous, with a brightly coloured haze over that complements the slow tracking shots and enhance the film's dreamlike state, in turn adding to the "magic realism as mood and ruse" style that the film is going for. - 5/10
Re-watches
54. Creed (2015) - August 27th
This is still one of my favourite films of 2015. The passion, the melodrama, the character-rich action, it's all so perfect as a successor to the Rocky franchise. It's well and truly following the formula, even forcing certain aspects to apply in a way that builds character; Adonis being adopted in to a rich background but then dropping that in favour of what he sees as his true calling and a chance to make a name for himself is both fantastic character development and it allows him to more easily follow Rocky's arc with only the specifics changed. On top of that, the fantastic camera work that keeps the audience right in on the action, allowing every punch to hit with maximum impact as the story emphasises why these hits matter so much. Combine that with the powerful performances from both Jordan and Stallone, and the dynamic caused by the contrast in their approach, the force of passion and drive versus the weight of experience and doubt, it all makes for some truly hard-hitting stuff that leaves you on a dizzying high of emotion. - 8.5/10
Published September 2nd, 2018
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