5. Shutter Island
Leonardo DiCaprio plays migrane plagued detective in this Martin Scorcese film noir. Set in a mental asylum for the criminally insane, on a secluded island, during a storm. Atmospheric only slightly describes this gorgeous film!I'm so glad it's now acceptable to say that Leo is a fantastic actor (possibly the greatest of his generation)! Like, before he started teaming up with Scorcese, everyone knew he was good but it was sort of embarrassing to admit because he was in Titanic and Romeo + Juliet (amazing films btw) and they were "chick flicks" and everything. Of course, I always knew Leo was amazing as evidenced by my obsession with him when I was twelve years old. I had a giant poster of his face above my pillow! Anyway, he's able to showcase his talents along with a great supporting cast as he unearths the mysteries of the creepy old mental hospital. Some parts are shit-your-pants-scary, it's hard not to become completely engrossed in this film.
4. Cemetary Junction
This Ricky Gervais and Steve Merchant film moves away from comedy in favour of drama, telling the story of a group of teenagers from Reading in the 1970s.Ricky Gervais is no stranger to drama. Some of the most memorable and touching parts of The Office and Extras were the parts that made you cry. Dawn and Tim finally getting together. Ricky's speech whilst in Celebrity Big Brother on Extras. This film does a lot of that, laying it on thick with the nostalgia and emotion. And it totally works. I found myself emotionally invested in the characters (who are mostly far too good looking to have come from Reading (I joke, I joke!)) who have to deal with sexism and having no money and the thought of having to work in a factory for the rest of your life because your parents don't have the money to send you to university. With the increase of tuition fees in the UK, some of these problems are what kids these days are also worrying about. The set pieces, hair styles, clothes, everything is right with this film. Please watch it if you get the chance!
3. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part I)
The seventh installment of the films sees Dumbledore dead, Voldemort alive and the whole wizarding world thrown into chaos. No one is safe, but who will make it out alive?If you haven't seen this yet I would urge you to do so immediately! To reiterate a cliche, these films have got darker and better with each one. I love ALL the Harry Potter films, I love the books (a little too much) and everything and anything else to do with Harry Potter (except the fan fiction), so I may be a little biased but this film left my mouth hanging open for the entire two and a half hours. It's like it suddenly hit me that every great actor from British film for the past 50 years was assembled for these films, and I felt so proud to be British and have such an amazing showcase of talent being seen around the world. The trio's acting gets a special mention for being really good, as does the special effects which really are magical. I can't believe there's a six month wait 'til the next one! At the same time, I'm sort of dreading it because that will be the end then, wont it? No more Harry Potter. Nothing. Best not to think about it!
2. Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
Not to be mixed up with the Harvey Keitel film of the same name, this Werner Herzog directed film deals with a good cop gone bad, his battle with addiction and the tangled web he weaves.Like in A Clockwork Orange, Bad Lieutenant has you rooting for the bad guy from the start. Nicholas Cage is actually amazing in this film. It's not often you can say that sentence (even if he is one of my favourite actors) but this film really warrants it. Nic seems completely at home playing a borderline psychotic cop who's having a bad time.
It's a travesty that this film wasn't on a nationwide release. I had to watch it at an independant cinema when this should have taken over the cinemas this summer. It came out at a perfect time, when the sticky heat of New Orleans was mirrored by the heatwave in the UK. It only helped to immerse you. Not only is this film totally badass, but it's also REALLY funny. Like, belly laughing funny.
1. Four Lions
Chris Morris tackles the controversial subject of inept terrorists and their plan to blow up London in this deeply funny and surprisingly emotional film about friendship, marriage and er, bombing stuff.If you didn't see this at the cinema you missed out. Clearly anything with Brasseye creator's Chris Morris and Screen Burn's Charlie Brooker attatched was going to be worth a viewing, even if it was just for the moral outrage. But Four Lions was more than something to get uppity about, it actually revealed the more human side to a culture so shrouded in rumours and misconceptions. A man reading his son a bedtime story, comforting his wife, having a water fight. Rather than demonise Islamic terrorists this film made you sympathetic towards them, which is what I think most people found deeply uncomfortable about this film.
Of course, it's also funny. It's funny in a way you've never seen funny before. It's probably one of the most important films to have come out since teror-phobia gripped the Western world. If one film can stand up and tell everyone to please chill the fuck out, it deserves all the respect it has gotten. That's why it's my number one film of 2010!
Honorable mentions go to: Despicable Me (amazing but not as much as Toy Story), Inception (couldn't put two Leo films so chose my favourite), Machete (isn't showing in a cinema near me but I know it'll be amazing), Kick-Ass, and Scott Pilgrim vs The World!
loved shutter islands xxx
ReplyDelete