Iro's Film Diary

Hey we actually agree on a movie!

Heathers is an all time favorite of mine and a film I grew up with. A lot of fun. Also Christian Slater.

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HEY NOW... I'm not that easy.

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Movie Reviews | Anime Reviews
Top 100 Action Movie Countdown (2015): List | Thread
"Well, at least your intentions behind the UTTERLY DEVASTATING FAULTS IN YOUR LOGIC are good." - Captain Steel

Neither am I.

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Mmm... well played.

I really wanted to see Machete Maidens for the docs countdown, but I couldn't get a hold of it.

#13 - Mad Max: Fury Road
George Miller, 2015



In the aftermath of a nuclear war, the titular survivor is dragged into the middle of a situation involving an evil cult leader and a group of escaped sex slaves.

Original review found here.

#14 - Jazzin' for Blue Jean
Julien Temple, 1984



A socially inept handyman tries to win over a beautiful woman by claiming to be friends with her favourite rock star.

The other night I watched a marathon of David Bowie clips, which includes his attempt to create his own version of Thriller with Jazzin' For Blue Jean, a short film designed to accompany the single "Blue Jean". The plot concerns a gormless everyman (Bowie) who awkwardly attempts to impress an attractive woman by professing that he knows her favourite rock star (Bowie again) personally, which leads him to embark on a farcical journey that sees him go up against all manner of obstacles in order to get the girl. The resulting film then becomes seventeen minutes of cringe comedy wrapped around three minutes of music video and, while Bowie is naturally a charismatic performer, he can only do so much with such weak material. Watching his handyman character spend several straight minutes trying every trick in the book to get past a bemused bouncer is only so funny the first time around, let alone the second. The sheer 1980s vibe of the whole production dates it pretty severely as well and not necessarily in a good way. The man did have quite the impressive career, but this was far from the greatest part of it.

#15 - The Great Ziegfeld
Robert Z. Leonard, 1936



A biopic of famed theatrical impresario Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. as he makes the climb from vaudeville promoter to legendary producer.

Musicals are a polarising genre for me - while I do have a modicum of respect for the effort required to stage them, I can never really get into them. While the other 1930s musicals I've seen tended to be lean little affairs that created the most perfunctory of premises to string together setpiece after setpiece for ninety minutes at a time, The Great Ziegfeld promises something grander by being a three-hour biopic that just so happens to feature musical numbers in it. The extended length and focus on a weightier narrative proves to be a double-edged sword - while it may give the proceedings some depth, it's not enough to seriously sustain an entire three-hour feature. It peaks occasionally (mainly due to the actual numbers, which are still decent even after leaving aside the occasional distracting moment such as a minstrel number) but tends to flatline more often than not. Performances are serviceable and little more. How much you enjoy The Great Ziegfeld will definitely depend on your appreciation for musicals in general - there's something of worth here, but it just doesn't click for me.

#16 - The Iron Giant
Brad Bird, 1999



In 1957, a young boy discovers and befriends a large metallic creature whose presence draws the attention of military investigators.

I haven't watched The Iron Giant in far too long, which makes the experience of re-watching it feel surprisingly fresh. This is especially impressive considering how much traditional animation in feature films has fallen by the wayside with the advent of computer animation. The story works as affectionate parody of 1950s sci-fi with its tale of a young boy named Hogarth having his small-town life be turned upside down by the arrival of a tall metal robot - which he naturally befriends. As a result, The Iron Giant seems to run down a check-list of tropes not only as far as family films go but also those involving the era's own sci-fi stories, often making explicit the themes that were implied by the films it references. Under the supervision of a director like Bird, the familiar elements are remade anew with just enough creativity to make the references feel inventive more so than lazy. This also extends to the visual style, which balances the traditional animation of the human world against the hybrid of CGI and line-drawing used to bring the eponymous giant to life in a way that really stands out.

Another thing that stands out about The Iron Giant is how lean it feels. Clocking in under the ninety-minute mark, it doesn't waste a minute as it powers through its admittedly standard narrative that is packed through with enough humour, pathos, and sheer character to carry the proceedings. It parcels out exposition at an incredibly economic but efficient rate, involves a smooth visual style that showcases its own personality underneath its conventional Disney appearance, and it grants considerable depth to its outwardly stereotypical characters. This allows it to not only get away with all sorts of broad but family-friendly comedy but also manages to make some seemingly hokey moments of sentimentality have significant emotional pay-offs, especially as the Giant starts to learn about what life is like on Earth. Anytime I entertain the thought of re-visiting a family film that I haven't seen since I was a child, I worry about whether or not it will actually hold up. In the case of The Iron Giant, it's good to see that I didn't need to worry.

Damn dude. I know you have something of a backlog, but you watch a hell of a lot of movies.

Yeah, that's why I've had to start giving them short don't-quite-count-as-reviews so I can keep up.

#17 - The Octagon
Eric Karson, 1980



A martial artist must infiltrate a clan of murderous ninjas.

Despite Chuck Norris's memetic reputation for being an all-American badass, I don't think that automatically translates to him making good (or even just enjoyable) films. The Octagon seems like it's going to be pretty fun with its premise involving Norris playing a retired karate champion who is slowly but surely embroiled into a conspiracy involving a mysterious clan of ninjas. However, even within the confines of a fairly simple action movie the resulting product is a disappointment. The plot and characters tend to be extremely forgettable (even Lee Van Cleef showing up as an old mercenary friend of Norris doesn't leave much of an impression), while the action that is supposed to be the main draw of the film tends to be pretty lacklustre and doesn't justify how much of a drag the non-action scenes tend to be. Norris has considerable physical prowess but it's wasted as he occasionally kicks around a bunch of goons, with things only marginally improving during the film's climax inside the ninjas' home base. That's about the extent of the appeal here - what could have been a charming little slice of kung-fu fun ends up becoming a very sluggish and boring film that fails to provide anything worthwhile when it comes to set-ups, pay-offs, or general entertainment.

I think Iro has been in an accident that he's not telling us which had left him bed ridden. He's got nothing else to do but watch movies and post here.

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"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews

Awww, The Iron Giant. A true childhood favorite of mine! I'm glad you love it as well, Iro.

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/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

That would be extremely presumptuous of you.

#18 - Black Rain
Ridley Scott, 1989



A pair of New York police detectives arrest a Yakuza clan member and must extradite him back to Tokyo.

Legendary journeyman Ridley Scott takes on the cop movie with Black Rain, a film that sees Michael Douglas's slightly corrupt but generally okay detective arrest a ruthless Yakuza member (Yusaku Matsuda) after Matsuda murders a couple of rivals in broad daylight. Of course, things are not that simple as Matsuda must be extradited back to his native Japan, so naturally it falls to Douglas and his partner (Andy Garcia) to fly all the way to Tokyo in order to have him processed. However, it's not long before Matsuda escapes their custody and the American duo are forced to co-operate with the local cops (as well as having Ken Takakura's assistant inspector be assigned to mind them). It's a simple enough set-up - almost too simple, really, as it runs through a pretty standard narrative for this kind of film. Obstructive superiors, mismatched partners, and so forth. Even the decision to set the film in Japan doesn't yield much distinction - I still couldn't help but be reminded of Sydney Pollack's The Yakuza for reasons that go beyond the obvious similarities involving an American traveling to Japan and going up against gangsters.

While Black Rain flounders a bit during its first half, it picks up soon enough. Douglas shows off his usual brand of crusty charisma in a fairly straightforward cowboy cop kind of role, while Garcia functions as his more happy-go-lucky partner. Kate Capshaw pops up in a somewhat thankless role as an American expat who works in the same circles as the villains, while Takakura makes a good foil to Douglas as their two vastly different mentalities (the former's sense of strict honour clashes with the latter's self-righteous vigilantism) cause them to clash and have some interesting exchanges. It was even good to see Tomisaburo Wakayama of Lone Wolf and Cub fame appear as an intimidating Yakuza boss whose fearsome monologue to Douglas gives the film its title and one of its best moments. Throw in a couple of well-executed action sequences, grainy neo-noir camerawork, a neon-soaked Tokyo setting, and an aggressively dated Hans Zimmer score, and you have a reasonably entertaining but not too amazing piece of work.

Mad Max was really decent for me... didn't like it very much was just standard action movie with nice direction. Nothing new

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#19 - Year of the Dragon
Michael Cimino, 1985



A New York police captain assigned to Chinatown works to take down the local triads, which are becoming more dangerous under new leadership.

It's always interesting to see a film that dares you not to like it and Year of the Dragon is definitely such a film. Mickey Rourke's protagonist may be "the most decorated cop in New York" but his service in the Vietnam War has made him incredibly racist towards Asians, which naturally means his assignment to the city's Chinatown section is a rather ill-advised idea...or it might be the only thing that could work to stop the local triads, who are experiencing something of a power vacuum following the assassination of their leader. This allows for John Lone's ambitious young gangster to nominate himself as the triad's new leader, promising to consolidate the triad's power by any means necessary. Thus begins an incredibly dangerous game of cat and mouse as Rourke tries to take down Lone while struggling with problems at home, most notably involving the strained relationship with his wife (Caroline Kava) and his admittedly hard-to-believe affair with a young news reporter (Ariane Koizumi) who is invested in combating the triads through the media.

Year of the Dragon does have its questionable elements, especially when it comes to the treatment of Koizumi's character, but for the most part it's an interesting variation of what could have been another by-the-numbers crime drama. Rourke excels at playing an unlikeable excuse for a hero whose many character flaws don't negate his mission but instead render it complex. By this extension, Lone proves a fascinating villain even if he does fulfill a familiar dynamic as his affable businessman goes up against Rourke's coarse lawman. Though the dynamic is familiar, it does serve as a backbone to a surprisingly layered approach to the war on organised crime, especially as racial disharmony emerges between different mobs thanks to Lone's aggressive tendencies and disregard for honour among thieves. The film is arguably a little on the long side, but it's sure to compensate by keeping the pace rolling with some unexpected developments, especially some carefully-distributed action sequences and pieces of dialogue that may elaborate upon the themes to a fault (often in the form of rants aimed at Rourke's belligerent bigot). Year of the Dragon may have its flaws, but it's a surprisingly engaging piece of work underneath its potentially alienating exterior.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel in order to make a really good set of tires.

That's a good analogy. Virtually every movie plot is recycled or cobbled together from something we've seen before (Fury Road is practically Road Warrior), it's just a question of how well it performs the same task on it's own.