Iro's One Movie a Day Thread

I thought The Host was OK, but it's a poor monster movie, which is what I wanted and was told it was. When they can be bothered to put up some monster action, though, they do it well. Which only makes the rest feel more wasted.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Good luck bRo !
i like this movies , i advice you to watch it !
Brooklyn Bizarre

#747 - Pandorum
Christian Alvart, 2009



Two astronauts wake up from cryosleep to find that their futuristic spaceship is not only in a state of severe disrepair but is also populated by bloodthirsty mutants.

Pandorum starts off on a somewhat promising note as a brief prologue establishes that Earth's resources have dwindled over the course of the next two centuries, prompting the creation of a gigantic vessel that is designed to reach the nearest Earth-like planet and colonise it. The film then begins properly with two members of the crew waking up from suspended animation into a sealed room, their knowledge of the situation affected by cryosleep-induced memory loss. The duo then proceed to do what they can to figure out what's going on and how to fix the ship, with one (Ben Foster) venturing out of the room through an incredibly narrow crawlspace while the other (Dennis Quaid) serves as mission control and guides him through the ship. While on the outside, Foster discovers the truth of the situation; while there are other survivors on board, they are vastly outnumbered by a race of Morlock-like mutants who prowl the ship looking for humans on which to feed. As if the claustrophobia-inducing architecture or the flesh-eating monsters weren't enough of a threat, Foster also has to contend with the possibility of his fellow survivors (and even himself) being a threat due to the eponymous "pandorum", which is the movie's preferred term for space-induced insanity.

Beginning the film with the characters waking up in a bizarre situation with no memory of how they got there is as good a way to start as any, but then the onus is on the rest of the film to measure up. What little imagination is lent to the creatures' design often stands out in a bad way, such as their use of spears that give off such a luminescent glow that human characters can easily see them coming. There's nothing too frightening about them save for some heavily telegraphed jump scares that drop off in both quality and quantity as the film progresses; if anything, the real horror comes from environmental factors and the potential effect of "pandorum" on the ship's inhabitants (when they're not being affected by more conventional forms of insanity, of course). Unfortunately, the film can't seem to reconcile its more interesting elements with its compulsion towards providing pulpy space-horror thrills, ultimately compromising itself as a result. Foster and Quaid turn in serviceable B-movie performances (especially the latter as the increasingly agitated commanding officer) and the film's occasional ventures into the realm of psychological drama don't ring completely hollow; not only that, but the film does at least build a solid atmosphere with its seemingly haunted ship full of cramped steel hallways and sickly glowing computers. However, these aspects are not enough to save what is ultimately an extremely pedestrian excuse for a horror movie.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

#749 - Amy
Asif Kapadia, 2015



A documentary about Amy Winehouse, the renowned British singer who rose to fame before dying suddenly at the age of 27.

A documentary is not only supposed to deliver information about a subject to an audience but also make them care one way or another about the subject being covered. I have next to no interest in professional racing, yet I still liked Senna, Asif Kapadia's 2010 documentary about Formula One champion Ayrton Senna as he rose to prominence before meeting an early demise in a collision during a race. While I'm naturally more interested in music than sports, I also had very little awareness of Amy Winehouse beyond having heard the same handful of hit songs and also known about her highly-publicised drug addiction that led to her early death in 2011. Much like Senna, Amy is dedicated to covering the rise and fall of the iconic British songstress through an impersonal collage of audio-only interviews mixed with archival footage of its subject from both public and private collections. It chronicles Winehouse's journey from fresh-faced teenager through to promising ingenue before capturing her meteoric rise to fame on the back of some extremely resonant music that blended genres like soul, jazz, and blues to remarkably accessible and popular effect. However, there's a seedy underbelly to Winehouse's seemingly glamourous lifestyle as a combination of influences ranging from toxic relationships to the suffocating demands of celebrity culture prompts her to develop a drug addiction and an eating disorder, which were both factors in her untimely passing.

Maybe it's just because the only other Kapadia film I've seen is Senna, but it's extremely easy to draw comparisons between the two films for reasons that go beyond their subjects' superficial similarities. Just as Senna criticised the Formula One industry over their lax approach to safety regulations that ultimately resulted in Senna's death, so too does Amy demonise the culture that sprung up around Winehouse's self-destructive habits and only fed into the vicious cycle. Clips of talk-show hosts making wisecracks about Winehouse's infamous drug habits are inter-cut with unsettling images of her physical and emotional deterioration as a result of her habits. There's a lot of home-video footage to draw on thanks to a number of Winehouse's loved ones and colleagues carrying around video cameras all the time, which works to humanise Winehouse as a carefree young woman who earnestly wants to be good at what she does but also ends up capturing her at less flattering instances such as her stint at rehab or failing to perform at a packed concert. While there are some obvious scapegoats at work (most obvious Winehouse's musician ex-husband Blake Fielder, who is a major influence and accomplice when it comes to her drug habits), even supposedly supportive individuals like her family or management have their shortcomings (though her childhood friends are arguably exceptions as they are just worried about their friend).

I'm not sure how much bearing one's personal opinion on Winehouse or her music will make, though even with my largely indifferent (but not downright hateful) attitude the frequent musical numbers (complete with on-screen lyrics) become a bit of a chore due to their length and frequency. Not to say that they aren't necessarily bad, but there are arguably a few too many and only add to the film feeling a bit too underweight to really deserve to be two hours. They're still arguably necessary to really make one really understand how much talent was lost when Winehouse died, but even without her musical ability there is a certain amount of tragedy to watching her story unfold on many different cameras. Amy is not a fundamentally bad film, but the methodical craft that goes into creating an impartial-looking collection of interviews and clips only goes so far in building a watchable film. It will definitely depend upon how much interest you might have in Winehouse as a performer but it's definitely enough to challenge dismissive perceptions about her more notorious public antics and easily makes villains of those who would perpetuate the more toxic aspects of celebrity culture. Hardly great, but still fairly watchable.

Damn it, I missed #748, which was a re-watch of The Force Awakens hence why it slipped my mind. The review's on the previous page, but I'm wondering whether or not I should bump it up to a .

#750 - Love & Mercy
Bill Pohlad, 2014



A biopic alternating between two different periods in the life of Brian Wilson, one of the founding members of the Beach Boys

Trying to come up with inventive variations on the biopic beyond the standard cradle-to-grave narrative is always a challenge, and Love & Mercy distinguishing itself by opting to cover two separate narratives concerning its subject instead of one. The film is about Brian Wilson, one of three brothers who helped to co-found the popular surf-rock group known as the Beach Boys. It constantly switches between Wilson during two different decades. One plot takes place in the mid-1960s and follows a young Wilson (Paul Dano) who opts out of touring with the rest of the band after experiencing a panic attack on an aeroplane; instead, he decides to begin working on producing new music while his bandmates are away. The end result is an ambitious collection of baroque pop songs that would eventually come to be known as Pet Sounds, which is now regarded as one of the best albums ever made but whose initial commercial failure fed into young Wilson's growing mental issues. The other plot takes place in the 1980s and sees a middle-aged Wilson (John Cusack) living an extremely mundane and unassuming life that is shaken up when he meets an attractive Cadillac dealer named Melinda Ledbetter (Elizabeth Banks); however, their burgeoning relationship is threatening by domineering psychiatrist Eugene Landy (Paul Giamatti), whose strict orders may be harming Wilson instead of helping him.

While neither one of these plots is strong enough to properly sustain a full two-hour drama, what makes Love & Mercy so distinctive is the way in which both sides of the film will complement one another. The Dano half goes for a straightforward behind-the-scenes dramatisation that shows how Wilson's creative process in crafting one of the greatest pop albums ever made attracted a fair bit of derision and skepticism; it definitely features its fair share of clichés in this regard, especially in having Wilson's bandmate Mike Love (Jake Abel) vocally contradict Wilson's actions at almost every turn. Conversely, the Cusack half plays out very much like A Beautiful Mind in its familiar tale of a psychologically tortured genius who ultimately depends on the love of a good woman to help see him through his trials. Neither plot is especially inventive and are factors that ultimately keep this film from being truly great, but director Pohlad is capable of infusing both sides with distinctive technique. Dano's half feels very down-to-earth with its candid fly-on-the-wall cinematography of studio scenes contrasting with uncomfortable visual exaggerations meant to evoke Wilson's troubled mind, while Cusack's half has a lack of fanciful technique that reflects the older Wilson's more relaxed (albeit heavily sedated) state of existence.

With the various narrative strands and the details within proving major hurdles for the film to overcome, it's just as well that the film is able to back it up with some fairly decent performances. Dano is easily the stand-out, perfectly embodying Wilson's paradoxically confident yet nervous disposition as he is alternately proud of and ashamed by his radical musical experimentation and the reactions that it provokes - and that's before he starts to experiment with drugs and experience greater and greater panic attacks. On the other hand, Cusack initially seems miscast as the older Wilson but his tendency not to act too hard outside of his comfort zone can arguably be seen as a representation of how Wilson is most definitely not himself while under Landy's supervision. Consummate character actor Giamatti delivers an appropriately unhinged performance as Landy, compensating for his character's fairly shallow development by properly throwing himself into playing such a superficially friendly but fundamentally vicious individual. Banks gets to play the straight woman who ultimately acts as Wilson's saviour, committing to what is arguably a rather basic role in the process. These are all major reasons why Love & Mercy is able to rise above its potentially limiting status as a biopic but their strength is not quite enough to make it great. The main quartet deliver solid performances and the film's at least somewhat interesting on a visual level (plus it has Oscar-winning composer Atticus Ross providing appropriately moody original music in between the sunny-sounding licensed songs) and it's definitely a decent film in just about every regard.

#751 - Southpaw
Antoine Fuqua, 2015



A wealthy boxing champion with a volatile temper loses everything following a public outburst with tragic consequences.

While I ultimately did not think that it was a particularly good movie, I had to respect the much-reviled Rocky V and the direction that its narrative took in the context of the franchise as a whole. That film saw Sylvester Stallone's iconic boxing champion not only be forced into retirement following severe physical injuries but also saw him lose his wealthy lifestyle due to bad financial decisions on the part of his manager/best friend. Southpaw takes the same basics of a lower-class boxer turned wealthy champion being made to start from scratch following a sudden tragic development. In this case, the boxer (Jake Gyllenhaal) has an altercation with a disrespectful would-be rival (Miguel Gomez) that inadvertently leads to his wife (Rachel McAdams) being fatally shot in the commotion. This sets in motion a chain of events that sees Gyllenhaal lose not only his many material gains but most importantly his young daughter, who is placed in foster care and understandably wants nothing to do with him. Gyllenhaal's initial notions of violent revenge against Gomez soon pass and eventually lead to him trying to claw his way back up to the top, which involves trying to settle in at a gym run by an especially stern trainer (Forest Whitaker).

I can respect Southpaw to an extent, especially when it comes to Gyllenhaal conveying his character's raw emotion and physicality both inside and outside the ring (even though his tendency to angrily flip over nearby pieces of furniture starts coming across as silly before too long) or Whitaker's turn as a heavily principled and embittered mentor who has his own checkered past. However, the rest of the film doesn't seem to measure up to the strength of either performance. As if the fact that my main reference point for the plot is Rocky V isn't enough of a tip-off, it doesn't quite manage the same level of ultimately misguided experimentation as that Stallone vehicle did. Instead, what we get is a disappointingly sluggish and on-the-nose excuse for a sports drama that sets up simple conflicts and doesn't do anything interesting with them. This even extends to any actual scenes of fighting, which may feature an incredibly ripped Gyllenhaal angrily taking as many names as he can but which ultimately don't leave much impact despite their bloody, frantic nature. A few strong character moments definitely help redeem Southpaw to an extent (especially on Whitaker's part), but it's not enough to sufficiently distinguish the whole film for the better.

#752 - Mr. Holmes
Bill Condon, 2015



An elderly gentleman who was once a legendary detective retires to a cottage in the countryside finds himself puzzling over the final case he ever worked.

Considering how potentially interesting the prospect of seeing an iconic fictitious character confront their advancing age and impending mortality can be, it's rather disappointing that the most prominent modern examples of such tend to play such a situation for light humour - look no further than a sexagenarian Schwarzenegger declaring himself "old, not obsolete" in Terminator: Genisys or old-school secret agents like James Bond and Ethan Hunt defying their detractors by deftly carrying out all manner of life-threatening missions. Mr. Holmes opts to take a certain much-adapted Arthur Conan Doyle character and examine his experiences during his final years in order to provide a more meditative counter to recent action-packed outings starring the likes of Robert Downey Jr. or Benedict Cumberbatch. It reflects this through an ambitious inter-mingling of three separate narratives. The core narrative sees a now-retired Sherlock Holmes (Ian McKellen) returning to his country home following a recent journey to Japan. As he re-adjusts to life around his cottage, interactions with the lonely son (Milo Parker) of his war-widow housekeeper (Laura Linney) lead to him reflecting on two prior experiences. One concerns the events of his trip to Japan in search of a plant with healing properties, while the other naturally involves his last case that begins when a worried husband (Patrick Kennedy) hires him to investigate the rather peculiar activities of his wife (Hattie Morahan).

Having a renowned actor like McKellen in the role of Holmes certainly lends Mr. Holmes enough gravitas to prevent it from becoming too stuffy even for a British period drama, though he doesn't exactly disappear into the role like other actors tend to do. Other performers vary in ability - Parker proves an adequate child actor who does well enough at acting against a juggernaut like McKellen, while Linney struggles to overcome a dubious Irish accent in order to sell her own conflicted character. Not too much else of note goes on in the acting department save perhaps Hiroyuki Sanada's turn as Holmes's Japanese contact, who gets some weighty enough material to work with even in what is arguably the weakest of the film's three separate storylines. Despite the film's relatively brief length, it still threatens to grow too slow and labourious for its own good as it jumps haphazardly between the separate narratives. It's sprinkled with clever references to canonical Holmes factoids and how McKellen's Holmes regards his famous image with some disdainful amusement (best exemplified by the sequence where he visits a cinema that's playing a film based on his exploits), though that only goes so far in providing any distinction to an otherwise dry combination of mystery and drama.

I like Paul Dano so Love & Mercy looks interesting.

#753 - Creed
Ryan Coogler, 2015



The illegitimate son of a legendary boxing champion who died in the ring seeks to become a great boxer in his own right and enlists the help of his father's rival-turned-friend to do so.

2015 has certainly seen quite a few notable ways to extend the longevity of some old franchises beyond the realm of what is likely or even plausible. Jurassic World gave us a fully functional theme park full of live dinosaurs even after all three of its predecessors had already demonstrated why such a concept just wouldn't work, while Terminator: Genisys rewrote the franchise's established time-travel continuity to the point of things just not making any sense anymore in order to accommodate a potential spin-off franchise. Even though Creed does not involve science-fiction like those examples do, it does work off one very unlikely premise in order to connect with a beloved cinematic brand. The story concerns Adonis (Michael B. Jordan), the illegitimate son of late boxing legend Apollo Creed, as he is adopted out of juvenile detention by Creed's widow Mary Ann (Phylicia Rashad). Despite being smart and capable enough to acquire promotions at his vaguely-defined office job during the film's first few scenes, Adonis wants nothing more than to actually become a reputable boxer in his own right. After some initial difficulty finding trainers in his Los Angeles hometown, he eventually decides that he needs to travel to Philadelphia in order to learn under living legend Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), who is understandably much more concerned with running his restaurant than having anything to do with a boxing ring ever again.

Creed certainly has its work cut out for it as it must try to craft a down-to-earth sports drama that is dependent on referencing the events of a film that featured a robot butler. Even though the Rocky series is a fundamentally goofy one (never mind the original's grounded realism), the fact that Creed tries to take itself seriously ironically ends up being what threatens its success the most. Director Coogler and star Jordan had already collaborated on true-crime dramatisation Fruitvale Station, which was arguably undone by the way in which its incredibly straightforward treatment of its narrative threatened to render the whole film tedious. While Creed is offered some flexibility due to its fictitious nature, it ultimately doesn't do much of worth with such creative freedom. As if the rather eye-rolling nature of the entire first act isn't enough, there's the way in which it falls to prey to that most prominent of reboot flaws, that of trying to deliver far too many references to past installments (except Rocky V, of course, because who cares about a movie where Rocky trains someone else to fight?). There's also the question of Adonis's romantic sub-plot involving his neighbour Bianca (Tessa Thompson), a young up-and-coming musician who is currently dealing with degenerative hearing loss. Such an ostensibly tragic sub-plot seems like a good source of nuance for the film, but even the acting strength of both performers can't adequately justify such weak developments within the context of a main plot that's already crafting a very slow and loose variation on an underdog sport movie.

Though he plays a character who can be a little difficult to side with, Jordan does alright at holding his own both inside and outside the ring. However, there's a lot more to be said for Stallone's latest turn as his most definitive role as Rocky. Considering what both character and actor have been through over the course of the past four decades, one wouldn't necessarily expect much of worth out of a character who had seemingly gotten a satisfactory ending to his saga in 2006's Rocky Balboa and now only exists to prop up an entirely different film. Despite that, Stallone commits well enough to the material that he is capable of carrying some extremely hokey movie-of-the-week developments as the film progresses. Moments such as his customary visits to the graves of his loved ones definitely cancel out more ostensibly ridiculous moments such as his bewildered response to Jordan mentioning the "cloud" method of data storage. Thompson and Rashad are ultimately a bit wasted due to the sidelined natures of their respective narratives, though the former's status as a love interest affords her more material than the latter's status as a concerned parental figure. The development of these characters and many others (including Andre Ward as a potential rival to Adonis's claim to the championship) seems very lacklustre. This much is true of the film's chief antagonist, loutish British boxer "Pretty" Ricky Conlan (Tony Bellew). Conlan not only lacks the charming nuance of original Rocky antagonist Apollo Creed or even Balboa's Mason "The Line" Dixon but also isn't much of a love-to-hate character either, with his confrontational public image only serving to remind one of III's Clubber Lang but without the scenery-chewing villainy that Mr. T's belligerent boxer displayed.

It's a shame, then, because Creed does yield the occasional strong moment amidst its general mediocrity. The stand-out sequence is easily Adonis' first serious pro fight that is captured in a single unbroken take. The camera seems to prowl the ring like a caged lion as it follows not just Adonis but his opponent as they trade blows, attempt to recover between palpably brief rounds, and deal with their coaches spitting words of encouragement at them. However, such ambition is largely absent even on an action front as the film retreats into familiar boxing-movie techniques for its protracted climax. Demonstrations of familiarity are sadly commonplace within the world of Creed as everything from melodramatic conflicts to training montages are either recycled completely or tend to lack interesting variations. It's not enough to totally ruin the film but taking into account how much of it feels like it's padding out the film's rather bloated 133-minute running time (which notably makes it longer than any of the Rocky movies) definitely prevents this film from qualifying as a modern classic. As a result, Creed does just enough to justify its existence and it's definitely watchable but beyond that it's hardly the work of a champion.

#754 - Cop Car
Jon Watts, 2015



A pair of young boys discover an abandoned police cruiser in the woods and take it for a joyride only for the cruiser's corrupt owner to come looking for them.

On the surface, Cop Car seems like another modern throwback to '80s cult cinema with its blunt title and cover art featuring the one and only Kevin Bacon looking so much like a stereotypical small-town sheriff that you'd think he'd just walked off the set of Super Troopers. However, once the lurid red-and-blue opening credits have concluded, the film instead jumps headlong into an incredibly slow and mundane sequence of scenes where two boys (James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Wellford) are wandering through a rural area. After establishing a familiar odd-couple dynamic with Freedson-Jackson as a rebellious troublemaker who is constantly pushing the timid Wellford into a series of escalating dares, the boys eventually discover the eponymous car in the middle of a wooded area and, upon finding a set of keys inside, decide to start driving it around on a lark. However, it's not before Bacon's enigmatic but undoubtedly unhinged sheriff finds out that his car is missing and begins his own relentless search for it.

Cop Car is an extremely lean film and honestly feels a little too lean for its own good. The film does spend much of its time alternating between the kids getting into pretty standard misadventures and Bacon frantically trying to give chase, but the scenes vary in quality. The comedy of seeing Bacon try to steal a car using one of his shoelaces is visually inventive, while watching the kids play with guns and bulletproof vests they find in the car results in some of the most uncomfortably tense scenes I've seen all year. These individual moments pepper an otherwise uninteresting first half; it is only once the boys open the trunk and discover the real reason why the sheriff is obsessed with getting his car back that the film truly kicks into high gear. If nothing else, Watts' ability to craft a consistently suspenseful third act goes a long way towards redeeming the film as a whole but the build-up to that act is perhaps a little too good at reflecting the sheer boredom of being a kid in a small town even in a film as short as this one.

#755 - Die Hard
John McTiernan, 1988



A police officer attends his estranged wife's office Christmas party only for a group of terrorists to take over the building.

There have been enough films that take place at Christmas and invoke a lot of the same tropes and details that Christmas has practically become a genre in and of itself with its own collection of cinematic classics. In keeping with what defines the season for the people that celebrate it, the most well-known Christmas movies tend to consist of predominantly family-friendly tales that tend to invoke a wide variety of holiday conventions, whether it's learning the true value of family in It's A Wonderful Life or one boy's all-consuming wish to receive a BB gun from Santa Claus in A Christmas Story. Of course, after an up-and-coming screenwriter by the name of Shane Black opted to set his action-packed buddy comedy Lethal Weapon during the lead-up to Christmas, the parameters for what could be considered a Christmas movie apparently shifted. As a result, when Die Hard came out the year after Lethal Weapon and also happened to be an action movie that took place during Christmas, it proved such a resonant hit with audiences that even now there are people who not only think that it should be counted as a Christmas movie but also think that it is arguably the best Christmas movie. I obviously don't think it's particularly clever to refer to Die Hard as a Christmas movie but that isn't enough to stop me from forming my own Christmas tradition of watching Die Hard on Christmas Eve.

Considering how much of an influence the basic plot mechanics of Die Hard have had on the past few decades of action cinema, it almost defies the need for explanation, but I'll do it anyway. Die Hard sees New York detective John McClane (Bruce Willis) travel to Los Angeles to attend the office Christmas party being held at the skyscraper headquarters of the corporation that employs his currently-estranged wife Holly (Bonnie Bedelia). However, it's not long before an international team of terrorists led by a sophisticated German named Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman) launch a complex plan that involves taking all the party guests hostage. Fortunately, McClane is able to escape from the terrorists' clutches; though he is outnumbered and outgunned by his enemies, he still decides to launch his own guerrilla campaign against the terrorists using little more than his wits and whatever resources he can scrounge up as he does his best to keep one step ahead of his enemies. It's a simple plot, but the particulars are handled with surprising levels of efficiency and nuance - the first act provides a veritable cavalcade of pertinent factoids or important character details that will all come into play as the film progresses, which makes the multitude of pay-offs really satisfy. The first scene of the film is the best example of how the tiniest factors can work to define a film for better for worse as McClane's casual conversation with a fellow airline passenger about stress relief ends up playing a surprisingly major part in later high-stakes events - it could have been gratingly obvious but is deftly handled in such a way that doesn't feel that way..

Like many classic pieces of entertainment, what makes Die Hard great is the way in which it takes familiar aspects of storytelling and provides engaging variations upon them. This much is true of the characterisation, where one can pick apart the various archetypes that are deployed but can easily enjoy them because of how well they are done. Willis builds a memorable hero who is flawed and vulnerable enough to carry the film even before any actual danger arises; his complicated interplay with Bedelia sells their characters' marital troubles with ease, especially since the latter gets a bit more development than your typical damsel-in-distress due to the film's vaguely progressive attitudes regarding '80s women. Rickman ends up being the true star here as he takes what could have been a thankless moustache-twirling baddie and adds some serious gravitas to the proceedings, with his coldly professional villain communicating volumes through both his affably eloquent speechifying and his admirably subtle displays of body language. There's also a lot to be said about his clipped Teutonic affectation that is dripping with classy condescension and callous cool as he can deliver even the most absurd dialogue with palpable menace. There's also a lot to be said for his intelligence and motivations, which are both complicated without being convoluted and are aptly reflected in manners great and small; in one instance that stood out to me on this viewing, Hans' plot to identify James Shigeta's Japanese-American executive involves him reciting the man's life story and casually referencing his internment during World War II. It's a small detail that can easily be missed but lends a world of character to a potentially generic villain.

With far too many films, it's easy to write off the entire supporting cast with little more than a straightforward line about "solid performances" or whatnot, but another reason why Die Hard earns its reputation as a modern classic is because it manages to earn a paragraph dedicated to the multitude of supporting characters that grant the film its winning personality. Though the bulk of the terrorists aren't given that much time to distinguish themselves beyond their laughably '80s haircuts and tendency to not speak in English, several of Hans' henchmen manage it just fine; African-American hacker Theo (Clarence Gilyard) proves a delightfully wicked lackey whose frequent wise-cracking does not annoy, while Alexander Godunov makes quite the impression as Karl, Hans' brutish yet oddly elegant right-hand man whose pursuit of McClane soon turns very personal. There are a few easy love-to-hate characters on the "good" side of things, most prominently '80s that-guy Paul Gleason as the deputy police chief whose gross incompetence is supplanted reasonably well by his laughably cranky demeanour. Honourable mentions have to go to William Atherton as an opportunistic television journalist or Hart Bochner as a dangerously overconfident hostage, with the latter getting in a stunning piece of improvised dialogue. There are other good characters in the mix, too; as the affable Sgt. Al Powell, Reginald Veljohnson makes for a lovable foil to McClane whose radio-only connection with the man still comes across as vital despite its inherently artificial nature. Hell, I could even go ahead and bring up Argyle (De'voreaux White) the limo driver as an example of how the film can at least handle its bit-part comic-relief characters well, which is definitely important if you're going to feature comic relief at all.

Of course, it's not like the strength of the plot and characters means that Die Hard can afford to skimp on the actual action. Having the film take place inside a high-rise office building seems to be a somewhat uninspired choice but the level of detail involved in developing Nakatomi Plaza practically makes the building into a character in its own right as its height and contents make it as much of an antagonist as any of McClane's human enemies. Some of the most thrilling segments in the film are definitely based in environmental hazards like McClane (who is instantly established as having a fear of flying) falls or threatens to fall from great heights in attempting to escape his enemies. The same sense of environment is what tends to lend the film's occasional sojourns into straightforward shoot-outs some character, often involving distinctive scenery details ranging from unnecessarily long conference tables on one floor to excessive amounts of glass window-panes on another. That's not to say that the film skimps on flat-out action either with its fair share of massive explosions and bursts of bloodshed scattered ever so carefully throughout the film. All of it is captured with surprisingly distinctive cinematography by future Speed director Jan de Bont - there's something ineffable about the film's grainy compositions and smoothly gliding camerawork.

While one can easily pick apart elements of Die Hard that can be a little problematic (nothing like a team of violent criminals to put your marital strife into perspective), excessive (did McClane really need to desecrate his first victim's corpse with Christmas decorations for the "benefit" of his foes?) or just plain silly (would an elevator really go "ding" before exploding?), it's a testament to the strength of the film that its flaws can be overlooked or at least accepted as part of the fun. Michael Kamen's histrionic score may get a little repetitive but its use of sleigh bells and horns definitely lend the film a lot of character in moments of tension, action, or drama. Countless viewings later, there's still a lot to like about this film - the plethora of characters who have enough charm to overcome their archetypal roles, the mixture of stunts and violence that define the film as an action masterpiece, or even the tightly-structured writing that lends the film quite a lot of replay value. Die Hard plays things amazingly straight and works despite its inherent silliness as an '80s action movie. I've seen more than a few Christmas-themed movies and, despite its relative lack of actual Christmas character (beyond the occasional masterful stroke like the judicious deployment of Beethoven's "Ode to Joy" at a plot-critical moment), Die Hard is definitely one that I have gone back to year after year and will probably continue to do so for the foreseeable future due to its status as a genuine masterwork in action cinema.

The best action movie ever, and one of my best moviegoing experiences as I saw it the first two nights it was out.

#756 - Spy
Paul Feig, 2015



An unassuming CIA office worker is sent into the field to go after an insidious criminal mastermind.

Paul Feig had been responsible for one of my favourite TV shows with short-lived high-school dramedy Freaks and Geeks, but he had failed to impress me on a cinematic level when I saw his break-out film Bridesmaids, which hewed a little too close to the same alienating brand of R-rated romantic comedy popularised by Freaks and Geeks writer Judd Apatow. With Spy, Feig reunites with Bridesmaids actor Melissa McCarthy for a plot that evokes animated spy sitcom Archer in how it not only focuses on the deeds of a debonair gentleman spy (here played by Jude Law) but also on the generic soul-crushing office environment that exists behind the spy's very glamourous scenes. McCarthy plays the office worker who serves as Law's mission control and guides him through his dangerous missions, with her devotion to this extremely thankless role being motivated by her unrequited affection for Law. When Law is killed by a villainous heiress (Rose Byrne) during a mission, a vengeful McCarthy volunteers for the follow-up mission that involves trailing Byrne and bringing her to justice. The CIA boss (Allison Janney) decides to give McCarthy the role on the basis of her surprisingly competent combat skills, but McCarthy still has to face complications provided by good and bad characters alike.

While Spy arguably indulges some transparently accessible (but still R-rated) humour due to having a corpulent, clumsy person like McCarthy in the lead role, I can still appreciate how there are some layers to the comedy on offer here. One can play a drinking game with the sheer number of spoken jokes that can't help but feel like they were culled from a long reel of improvisations (with the most obvious offenders being the ones that start with the phrase "you look like"), but there's something to the rhythm involved on both sides of the camera that makes the barrage of one-liners work in such a way that they'll land more often than not. The film is still fundamentally aware of its parodic nature, even if that does extend to little more than inserting hapless everywomen like McCarthy or her gangly co-worker (Miranda Hart) into all the usual spy-movie set-pieces such as pursuing assassins or gaining the villain's trust using careful subterfuge. McCarthy does prove especially solid - though her initial development as a neurotic doormat doesn't exactly impress, she is still able to convincingly make the leap to outwardly vicious-sounding undercover agent without an issue. There are all sorts of monkey wrenches thrown in to keep things interesting, most prominently Jason Statham as a belligerent agent whose tales of dangerous situations comes close to sounding like a list of Chuck Norris jokes - and that's without mentioning how he constantly threatens McCarthy's operation with his stereotypical rogue agent nonsense. Other actors are given good comedic material, whether it's Byrne as a lovably reprehensible enemy with a masterful capacity for cruel punishments and snobby insults or Peter Serafinowicz as a Eurotrash pervert who just so happens to be one of McCarthy's undercover contacts.

Spy isn't great by any means, but it certainly exceeded my low expectations (if not by much). There are still plenty of ways in which it does play out some rather basic humour in terms of both slapstick or hearing the various broadly-drawn characters interact with one another, but the constant stream of one-liners and farcical scenarios do yield a surprisingly high number of good jokes and I'll definitely admit to getting a few good laughs out of the whole thing. One can appreciate the subtext in this relatively lightweight spy romp without it prompting derisive eye-rolling - of particular note is how McCarthy is forced to adopt multiple unflattering cover identities in what also serves as a clever reference to the film industry's narrow-minded typecasting of actresses like McCarthy. I also appreciate how it's not afraid to get its hands dirty thanks to the freedom offered by an R rating as it invokes scenes of violence ranging from horribly botched assassinations to frantic hand-to-hand fights but manages to avoid coming across as nihilistic bloodshed. Spy doesn't really aim to do much more than give audiences a dependable source of laughs and a small degree of excitement, and I think it delivers well enough to deserve some merit but not enough to totally win me over.

#757 - Christmas Vacation
Jeremiah Chechik, 1989



A middle-class family man wants to put on the perfect Christmas for his family but is beset by all sorts of obstacles.

I somehow managed to see the other three [i[Vacation[/i] movies at a young age without seeing Christmas Vacation all the way through, only ever seeing it in bits and pieces throughout the years without ever being sure that I'd seen the whole thing from start to finish. This year, I decided to rectify that. While its two predecessors were road movies at heart that followed the Griswolds' trips across America and Europe respectively, Christmas Vacation keeps its action planted firmly in the family's suburban home; however, it still follows the same basic premise of a family man (Chevy Chase) planning to do whatever it takes to give his family the ideal holiday. Naturally, he is forced to deal with all sorts of complications great and small that threaten to undermine his simple goal; a wide variety of difficult in-laws, a Scrooge-like boss, technical difficulties with the Christmas decorations, and much more.

Even if I hadn't already seen the bulk of the film in snippets over the years, I'd probably still have trouble gleaning any significant levels of amusement even on the basic level on which this film works. That's not to say that there isn't the odd moment here or there that works but they tend to yield quiet mirth rather than raucous laughter, which is something of a problem considering this film's apparently broad and out-sized comedic nature. If anything, the film's best moments tend to make me question just where the line is between a running gag and a flat-out recycled joke - look no further that Chase once again launching into a profane and deranged tirade after his well-intentioned plans come crashing down around his head at the end of the second act (or the distractingly obvious rip-off of the notorious poolside fantasy scene from Fast Times at Ridgemont High). Adding a thick layer of Christmas schmaltz to the proceedings doesn't sweeten the deal much either, especially as certain revelations concerning Chase's white-trash relatives come to light. Christmas Vacation does feature enough half-decent gags to not come across as painfully unfunny but none of them go far enough to stop the film as a whole coming across as a largely laugh-free bore. I do wonder if I would've liked this more had I actually seen it at a younger age, but given how I don't have a high opinion of the other Vacation movies anyway then that's probably unlikely. Oh, well.

Not far off 800 Iro great effort. Looking forward to this finishing so i can slowly work my way through it .

#758 - Avengers: Age of Ultron
Joss Whedon, 2015



A team of superheroes must do battle with a malevolent form of artificial intelligence.

Original review found here.

(Additional notes: well, sh*t.)

Given how I'm intended to wrap this up at the end of the year, I daresay I won't actually reach 800.

I know that but you still made it a decent bit over two movies a day, you and Rhys are the only members i think have completed one of these well unless you fall at the final hurdle

I couldn't watch too many movies because I'd fall behind on the reviews, which meant that I was deliberately depriving myself of movies for the benefit of this thread and all five people who read it.