Watched this last year, i liked it alot but had problems with it; more me not being able to get into things rather than actual flaws. Decided to rewatch it after randomly hearing California Dreamin' at a friends house haha and everything clicked. Probably my favourite film, perfect.
Incendies
Loved this because it had excellent performances and was very powerful. I do think it was flawed though, some of it was very hard to swallow.
Firstly i guessed the twist fairly early on, which wasn't that big of a problem as it wasn't just about that and also i wasn't entirely sure of it until it was actually revealed. The things that bugged me a bit were the very convenient coincidences, most of all: Abou Tareq just so happening to get sent to interrogate her, if it turned out he was deliberately sent there because his bosses knew he was her son to inflict additional mental torture on her i would have accepted that. Obviously that wasn't the case tho as it's never mentioned and also she only found out years later by coincidence which would defeat the purpose of harming her with it. While the odds of her and her son following these paths that lead to this are small it is something that i could accept because at least they where in the same country. Which brings me to the worst one, her managing to bump into him at a random pool in Canada, that was ridiculous. If it was standalone i'd maybe take it easier but in addition to that early one i was bothered by it.
Another problem i had while watching was the ages of everyone not seeming right. I've thought about it more and i think it about passes, forgot that she was in prison for 15 years at first. I still think they should have use an older looking Abou for the pool scene though, as he didn't look much older than he was during the rape scene which had to have been 20+ years earlier considering the ages of Jeanne and Simon.
I still liked this alot, those were just some of the problems i had with it. Lubna Azabal gave one of my favourite performances of this decade.
The Raid
The action in this was outstanding, i did get a little bored at times tho as that is all there is basically. Heard the second has a bit more of a plot so maybe i'll like that one more.
Man, this is alot of fun. Haven't watched it in years, like 15 or something. The plot is dumb and ridiculous and convoluted but who cares, it's just an excuse to have Cruise do crazy things and i'm thankful for it. Thing is for a big dumb action movie the conflict is set up surprisingly well, nothing amazing but in addition to the action which everybody is there to see those first 30 minutes are really good at setting up the conflict. It's actually pretty brutal; you've been introduced to this close-knit team all of which seem like genuine friends not just colleagues and even during the mission they are all jokey and then within a couple of minutes four of them brutally die. As i said it's not outstanding but i at least came to like and was looking forward to more from them all (well except from the one who was blown up in her car as she didn't really do anything) which made it effective in getting you on Ethans side. Of course after that it goes nutty with people coming back from the dead essentially making all of that pointless and hilariously dumb internet/bible stuff, don't care though it's entertaining and by the point all of that starts happening it has already got my interest. Tom Cruise is so good at this sort of thing, i don't think he's that good of an actor but at playing action stars he's great. The action in this may be outdated but it's still fun, one of my favourite things is how goofy the effects on the train/helicopter scene are. Anyway, really liked this other than a few lulls. Planning on watching the rest of the series.
The first one i barely remembered, this one came back to me right away though as i remembered hating it as a kid; still don't like it. It's ridiculous and cheesy, not in a fun way like the first though, mostly in an eyerolling way. The romance is godawful , it would be acceptable if it was a side plot but it's the main conflict, Thandie Newton isn't actually that bad she clearly plays what she was supposed to the problem is that her character is terribly written. The thing is badly done romance in a film like this doesn't need to be a problem, i certainly don't expect it to be done well but this is genuinely offputting and it's such a big part of the film. The villains and dialogue were really bad too. It was saved a little by Cruise outside of the romance parts and some of the action but overall pretty weak.
Man this was such a weird, depressing, uncomfortable film, i liked it. It was difficult to accept the professor being so transfixed on Lola that his life would be this drastically altered on its own and Jannings performance was a mixed bag which didn't make it any easier, this was my biggest problem. Dietrich was amazing and it was shot masterfully though. I also did like the tragic comedy aspect it was just portrayed a little too goofy at times or this could have been a favourite. As i said Dietrich was amazing, she certainly played her part in making it believable that a man was so hypnotized by her; it was Jannings fault that it didn't entirely work, he played it almost as if he was drugged at times then at other times as if he was a bashful teenager and it was in a very cartoonish way that took me out of it. I said his performance was a mixed bag because i did think he did a good job in the last half an hour or so when he started resenting being there yet wasn't able to leave, losing his mind and going from someone of stature to a source of ridicule. Think if i could get over Jannings during the first hour or so this could become a favourite as it does so much so well.
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. The actor is Lee Byung-hun. Not seen The Good, The Bad and The Weird yet but he was good in I Saw The Devil too.
. Don't really have a top ten anymore and those are ten of my favourites so whatever, plus i have been wanting to see Chungking again even tho i just watched it two weeks ago.