Shirely

Airplane! (1980)

The 70s saw the growth of the disaster movie genre but Airplane! has come to over shadow many of the films it is spoofing. Interestingly Airplane! did really badly in what Hollywood likes to call it's "test screening" process. Basically a bunch of random people give scores on a film and do focus group work, then studio execuatives that financed the film panic based on those responses and try to wrestle control of the film away from the creative team behind it and try to recut it so as to save themselves. Luckly for us in this case the film was released as is despite it's poor test results. It seems that no one wanted to admit to liking the level of humour in Airplane! but then told all thier friends to go and see it. You would think that Hollywood might learn from such a great success coming from poor testing but apparently they have not.

There are some classic jokes in this film and great performances from the cast. What Airplane! does well is stay on topic. That might seem strange to say but the problem a lot of spoofs seem to have is that they do not work as a whole movie because there is not enough material to sustain the full run time. There are a number of spoof films that come across as a load of sketches loosely stuck together to pad out a weak plot. We have one spoofish aside in Airplane! but other than that it sticks to the main thrust of disaster film wackyness. Some jokes may come across as offensive and juvenille, and they probably are, but they are still funny and come in at a fast enough pace to keep the film going.

I give Airplane! a 4/5

dot, dot, dot, dash

The Longest Day (1962)

This is film would never get made today. There is a lot more you can say about The Longest Day but the crux of the matter is that it is a film making achievement that could not be rivalled in the modern era. No one would even think of making a film like this that was internationally inclusive (although the Canadians are sadly missing from the film), with such an amazing cast (Wayne, Fonda, Mitchum, Connery & Burton to name a few) and also stick to the actual story of the events in question rather than shoe horn in a love story and focus on a fictional protagonist (I am looking at you Michael Bay).

While there may not be a sequence that can rival the opening of Saving Private Ryan for depicting the initial assault on the Normandy beaches there are a great number of excellent action scenes, the best of which has to be the long sequence of the French attack on the casino. Characters from all sides, ranks and nationalities provide us with a great over view of the situation in the build up to and the opening day of the Allied invasion of northern France.

This is one of the few examples when Hollywood has got telling history right. Stick to the facts and do not crow bar in some clichéd melodramatic rubbish to try and appeal to a wider audience. Weighing in at over 3 hours The Longest Day manages not to get bogged down or start to drag thanks to the wealth of characters and stories to tell, it also manages to have so many characters without becoming confusing as to who is who or what is going on.

I give this a 5/5 an epic in every sense of the word and it stands the test of time very well. 

Following orders

The White Ribbon (2009)

This German language film is set in a northern German village in the year leading up to the out break of the first world war. The story is narrated by the village school teacher many years later as he goes over his memories of the strange events that happen during the period leading up to the out break of war.

What the film is really about is authoritarianism and the affects it has on the community. The unpopular baron rules the village with the help of his steward, the doctor and the pastor while various acts of rebellion or terrorism occur against them. It is hard not to view the plot as foreshadowing what happens in Germany following the loss of the first world war, particularly the punishment of the weak and vulnerable in response to the crimes of the previous generation. There are also denunciations and cover ups as the villages try to get to the bottom of the strange series of events.

Shooting in black and white to emphasise the strict code of right and wrong on the surface of the village life is an interesting choice but I do not think it adds a great deal to the look of the film. Where the film falls down is that it is fairly slow and there is no real conclusion to the story in my opinion.

This is still a good film, if shocking at times and I give it a 4/5

Beastly

The Wolfman (2010)

Benicio del Toro stars in this remake of the 1941 monster horror movie of the same name. I have not seen the original but this film does a great job of capturing the atmosphere of Gothic horror literature. Lawrence Talbot, an actor, returns to his fathers country estate following the disappearance and death of his brother to find out what happened for his brothers finance.

There is certainly a lot to like about this film in terms of the way it really captures the feel of the genre with it's great locations and touching on the themes of insanity and “the beast with in” but I do feel it ends up falling short. It neither explores the themes deeply enough to be a thoughtful horror film and it isn't scary enough to be a scary horror film.

I am also not entirely sure that the plot fits together that well, the explanation for the cause of the original killings seems to be an after thought and I was no convinced about the relationship between Lawrence and Gwen. It is a real shame because there is a lot of potential here in terms of the subject matter and the cast which also includes Emily Blunt, Anthony Hopkins and Hugo Weaving. The actual animation of the wolfman when it is attacking people does not seem that convincing either.

In the end despite the good parts I think I have to give this film a 3/5, a real missed opportunity but not a bad watch.

McTrek

Star Trek (2009)

Oh dear.

I will start by saying that I am not a massive trek fan, I have seen all the films and watched a fair amount of the TV shows when I was younger but that is as far as it goes. Having said that it is very hard to watch this reboot without reference to the previous cannon. Where I would say trek was at it's strongest was the original cast films, specifically 2-4 and 6 (so mostly the ones Nicholas Meyer had a hand in but not exclusively). For me those films really encapsulate the tone and style of trek, some depth of theme, good drama and some nice character work.

After watching the reboot I really think this film has brought out the worst in Hollywood. The whole premise is that an alternate reality is created so events and characters can be different but really that seems completely counter to the idea of making a new series with existing characters if they are not going to be the same characters we already know. What we end up with is a really bland “action adventure” in space which is just cashing in on the trek name. The plot has no thematic depth to it like any of the best trek films and actually has very little going for it.

Karl Urban's performance seems especially strange with McCoy's accent appearing and disappearing very erratically. The main big space battle is just a CGI spamfest with no tension or ability to work out what is going on. About the only part I liked was the idea of Kirk's father being a captain for only a few minutes to save lots of other people which is covered in the opening sequence.

If this was just a standard sci fi film I could see giving it at 3/5, it is fairly average and middle of the road but the problem is that it is attempting to be part of an existing franchise and in my opinion totally fails there so I have to give it a 2/5.

Limp misfit?

The Education of Charlie Banks (2007)

Fred Durst makes his directorial début with a film college kids in the 80s which stars Jesse Eisenberg. If you have seen any other films with Jesse Eisenberg you can probably guess the sort of awkward, self confidence lacking character he plays as Charlie Banks.

Charlie and his buddy Danny from New York are at college and trying to make friends with the rich kids when Mick, the local bully from New York turns up to visit. What the film is mainly about is to what extent are these young people limited by their class and upbringing.

While Charlie maybe the central character the story is mostly about Mick and how he fits in with the other characters given his bad upbringing and violent nature. Will he ever be more than a passing interest for the rich kids and is his self destructive behaviour inevitably going to ruin things for him even when he is outside of his usual habitat.

It would have been good to see a conclusion sub plot involving Danny and his rich girlfriend who is promised to her fathers business partner but this ends up being a surprisingly interesting film and pretty good all round 4/5.

Horse power

Ben-Hur (1959)

Charlton Heston stars in this semi-biblical epic about revenge, forgiveness and faith. Most people have probably heard of Ben-Hur as it smashed box office records in it's day and is a serious film making achievement but does it stand the test of time?

There are two major set pieces in the film, the sea battle and the chariot race. Sadly the sea battle is a bit of a let down, compared to modern effects it does look rather poor and you can see the limitations the film makers were working under. On the other hand the chariot race is still amazing and I would suggest much better than what would be achieved by a modern director who goes straight for CGI solutions. The set/location is huge and gives a real sense of scale.

Three and a half hours is a lot of time to ask from an audience and the run time of Ben-Hur is a real stumbling block. The story takes a while to get going and skips some of the interesting parts such as showing us how Ben-Hur reacts to his early days as a slave (we jump on three years) and also misses out his entire career as a charioteer in Rome. A 6 hour mini series might be a better way to tell this story, break it up into bite size chunks.

As a film this is a 4/5 out of but I really would not recommend it unless you are a big fan of classic epics of the 50s and 60s.