#96 Unforgiven

1992

Clint Eastwood (Star and Director)

Jamis Woolvett , Morgan Freedman and Clint Eastwood

This 4 time Oscar winning movie was a new title to me, as im ashamed to admit I had never heard of it. Now this 100 movie challenge was step up so I could find little movie gems of the past that I should have watched, but never did. You will have to forgive me somewhat, as I am not the most knowledgeable person on western's, so I may review this, then watch another and realise what a mistake I have made.

This one starts with a nice picturesque sunset with Will Munny's (Clint Eastwood) house in the foreground. Scrolling text explains that Munny was a vicious killer back in his prime, but his wife managed to tame the beast and made him change his ways. Munny now lives with his two children on a remote piece of land raising a flock/pack/hurd? of pigs. His wife has been dead for 3 years and Munny has managed to stay off the booze and raise his kids.

Along comes 'The Schofield kid' who tries to recruit Munny to join him in collecting on a bounty of two guy's that knifed the prostitute. Munny declines and the guy set off in the direction of the bounty. After a good 2 minutes of thought Munny decides he will go on the mission and use the money for his kids future. Munny wins the parent of the year award after he sets off and leaves his two kids both around 10 years old on their own.

On his way to catch up with Schofield he stops at his old partners house, Ned Logan (Freedman). Ned joins Munny in his mission and they set off to meet Schofield. 

Little Bill (right top, English guy (left, jacket open)

Meanwhile, we see the township of Big Whiskey, with the sheriff Little Bill Daggett. Little Bill is a mean guy, he polices his township with an iron fist. We see him beat an English man for having a gun. Little Bill humiliates this guy by kicking him almost in to a coma in front of everyone. He has a little catchphrase "didn't you see the sign" referring to a small sign just outside of the town advising visitors to surrender their weapons on arrival. 

When Munny and his two assassin friends arrive in Big Whiskey, Munny goes in to a bar, the other two go to the whore house to "play billairds" (code of having a go on a prostitute) . While in the bar Munny encounters the sheriff. After a stand off Little Bill also beats him for having a pistol in his possession  While this is going on the other two are learning about who they are going to kill, once finished they escape out of a window before the sheriff arrives. They collect their horses and and scoop up a almost dead Munny. After 3 days of recovery they are ready to kill the two men they are after.

After they kill the first one Ned decided he cant do this anymore and sets off home, Munny and Schofield continue to go after the second one. Once he is dead the meet the hooker to collect their bounty. Then the story twists, it turns out the sheriff has captured Ned and tortured him with a whip until he died. After Munny finds out about the fate of his dearest friend, he returns to Little Whiskey to get revenge on Sherrif Little Bill.

As I said at the start of the blog, I have not seen many westerns, but if they are all like this I have a hunger for many more. Ive seen a couple of other recent Eastwood movies and they are all fantastic. He has a great way of getting the view gripped with little dialog. All of the main characters play their roles perfectly, From the mean SOB of the Sheriff to the Timid "wana be hard man" Schofield. With little in the area of special effects the story if thoroughly enjoyable.

The only thing that I personally felt let down by was a bar shoot out, Munny is against 5 other men, he somehow manages to shoot all 5 of the others, and not one of them gets a single shot at Munny, I understand that if the main character gets shot there isn't much of a movie but its just completely unrealistic in a movie that is so gritty and true to life.

Scores

Visual
6/10
Nice olden days landscape of the mid American country side.

Sound
4/10
Sometimes didn't have a clue what was being said, sound effects were too loud, vocals were too quiet.

Acting
8/10
Brilliantly acted.

Plot
6/10
A Basic plot. Took a good twist at the end.

Ending
7/10 
Good ending, made you feel justice had been served.

Final Score 31/50 

Total Movie Minutes So Far - 673

Next Up The Sting (1973)

#97 Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade

1989

Director: Steven Spielberg 

             Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford)       

I'm pretty sure I don't have to go in to to much detail about this one, most people have seen this film, or one of the other 5, so you already get the picture. Basically, you have the star of the film Indiana Jones (great surname by the way) on the hunt for some ancient artifact, this generally gets him in trouble with some bad guys who so happen to be looking for the same thing at the same time. 

Indi and his dad

This really is just a Sunday afternoon, sitting around chilling out kind of movie. One where you don't have to really think about much, and just enjoy the action and mild humor running through the whole thing. The balance is just right, its not slap stick humor, nor is it trying to take its self serious.

So in this edition of Indiana, he pits himself against the Nazi's in a race to find the holy grail. Indiana is first seen in the movie as a teenager, showing at an early age he had a passion for adventure and a respect for ancient artifacts.While out with the boy scouts he stumbles upon some 'bandits' sealing a gold cross from a cave in the desert.One of the bandits only line in the movie is "whoo" many times over which was very irritating. He must have been so pleased when they told him he had a speaking part in this blockbuster, only for him to read the script and then adopt a sad face for a while. Anyway back to the story.....  Indi steals this off the guys and so proceeds a comedy chase, mainly over a train with many close encounters with dangerous animals.

Skip ahead a few years and we are in 1938, Indi has been enlisted to search for the holy grail after he is told his father (Sean Connery) has been kidnapped by the Nazi's. The adventure starts in Venice where he meets a Austrian Doctor who helps them find a secret passage under a library floor, and may I add, earlier on in the movie Indiana definitely  states, "X never marks the spot", worst teacher ever....

A long story short, he catches up with his dad, rescues him from the Nazi's and they go in search of the grail together, tangling many times with the enemy.

Holy Grail

Now as I said this is not a film to take serious, its the kind of film where, a whip can be used as a weapon or a mode of transport, or where no one in the entire film can shoot another person with a gun, plane or tank. Where a plane can crash through a tunnel, lose its wings, over take the car it was chasing then once out the other side and blow up. Where there is a secret passage in most rooms and fire places can revolve in to a Nazi command rooms. Where an american man can punch a Nazi uniformed officer, throw him out of a blimp window, then talk in English and non of the German passengers bat an eyelid.





My Favorite quote from the movie:

"I said no camels, that's 5 camels, can you not count?"

I  really enjoy watching the Indiana franchise, apart from number 5, that wasn't so good. So the scores are as follows:

Visual
6/10 - I watched this in Blueray, and can I say, hats off to whoever remastered that! Unbelievable difference from the original, it could be confused with being made only a couple of years ago. But I am basing my score on the original.

Sound
5/10
Not much in this area really, other than the infamous Indiana tune which is why it scores 5.

Acting
6/10
Never going to blow you away in the acting department. Some good humor and comedy fights though.

Plot
6/10
Basic and easy to follow

Ending
7/10
Good ending to this one. I especially liked the part where the guy selects the wrong grail and ages rapidly. Good special effects for a movie 30 years old.

Final Score: 30/50 


Total Movie Minutes So Far - 542!

Next up is Unforgiven (1992)

The Apartment #98

(Below) Director : Billy Wilder ( Sunset Blvd, Some Like It Hot)

 (left)Main Actor: Jack Lemmon

Mr Sheldrake and Baxtor

When I saw this 1960's romcom on the list i can say with out any doubt, i was not looking forward to it for a few resons. Firstly, the modern romcom is as predictable as Wednesday following Tuesday  this i assumed all stemmed from romcoms of a past era. Secondly it was made in the 1960's, not a sparkling year for movies of my choice and lastly its a bloody romcom.

The story

set in New York late 1959, following the main character of Mr C C Baxter (Jack Lemmon). Baxter is a nice gentle guy who is busy working hard as another cog in the corporate machine. The Title "the apartment" refers to Baxter's home, which he has started to lone out for his superiors for extramarital booty calls. In return for use of the apartment his bosses Dobish, Vanderhoff, Kirkeby and Eichelberger put a word in with the cheif administrator, Mr Sheldrake to get him promoted.

Baxter is often kicked out of his apartment at anytime of a given night. One night  he was woken up at 11pm to get out of his apartment for his boss, even though Baxter has a cold from being locked out all night the night before. Baxter finally gets his reward and is given the promotion he wants. The movie is shot in black and white, this added to the effect of Baxters misery and loneliness. 

As the story unfolds he meets a lift girl called Fran Kubelik and starts to fall for her, meanwhile unbeknownst to Baxter this girl is seeing Mr Sheldrake. Sheldrake is stringing Miss Kubelik along, saying he will leave his wife for her. At a Christmas party his secretory tells Miss Kubelik that she had heard the same story before and he has told it to many people that preceded her.

Baxtor and Miss Kubelik



When she next meets Mr Sheldrake in The Apartment he gives his excuses why he cannot leave his wife just yet and she will just have to be his bit on the side for a while. She cannot handle the rejection so takes an overdose of sleeping pills.

When  Baxter arrives home that night he finds Kubelik passed out on the bed, thinking quickly he manages to get the doctor next door to save her and nurse's her back to health. When Sheldrake's sectory hears of this, she meets with his wife and tells her about the affairs. The wife leaves him. Mr Sheldrake makes out to Miss Kubelik that he has left his wife for her. She is over the moon and tells Baxter (who is now in love with her) that she is going to be with the full time.

When the boss asks Baxter for the key to take Miss Kubelik back there, he refuses, the boss explains that if he doesn't give the key he will lose his job, he then quits as he cant bare to see his love be used by this man.

Kubelik finds out about this on New Year's Eve and ditches Sheldrake for Baxter. Running up the stairs to his house she hears a bang like a gun shot, she hurries to the door and bangs on it. Baxter has just opened a bottle of champagne on his own to celebrate the new year and a new start to his life. He has now packed up the apartment and is thinking of moving town.

What I thought:

This movie strangely had me hooked, unlike the 'slowly cantering bull' of movie (hash tag) 99, i thoroughly enjoyed it. the script was beautifully written, and the characters were perfectly chosen. like I said earlier in the review, when i saw this in the list it was an instant turn off, but after watching, I couldn't have been more wrong. the whole movie was the perfect portrayal of how a comedy/romantic drama should be written. There were twists and turns all the way through, and it kept you guessing until the very end. For a movie that only had about 5 locations and a handful of characters it was well   worthy of a place in the top 100. Maybe if modern day rom coms followed the same principle they wouldn't be the predictable dribble we get forced fed nowadays.

scores

Visual
5/10 Not much to base it on. Only a few scenes.

Sound
5/10 Although the sound was of the time, I'm sure classical music was not the only choice back then

Acting
9/10 Baxter is played brilliantly. The bosses are made to come across as fat cats and (lift girl) is a gullible ditsy 'broad'

Plot

8/10 Great story line acted out with great class

Ending
9/10 Fantastic ending, the last 40 mins built up and the plot thickened.

Final Score: 36/50

Next up is Indiana Jones #97.

Raging Bull #99

1980

So before we get in to today's review ill just say most of these movies I have not seen before, I have not read the synopsis, or seen the trailer. So I go in with no preconceived ideas or judgments.

Director - Martin Scorsese (The departed, Goodfellas and Taxi Driver. All in the top 100)

Writer - Jake LaMotta (Actual boxer this guy is)

Main Character - Robert De Niro (Goodfella's and the Godfather)

The Movie:

The movie starts with dramatic classical music and a boxer dancing around the ring, it is shot in black and while and the opening credits are rolling. 

When the movie begins we are in 1964 New York and La Motta (De Niro) is in a tux practicing his lines in a dressing room.

The movie then goes back in time to the start of his career in the 1940's.

La Motta is an unhappy married man living in a small apartment. His brother is his boxing manager and they are currently small time. Quickly La Motta leaves his current partner for a 15 year old blonde girl. Well I assume he left her or they just forgot to write her in the script, as there was no mention of her after that one scene.

La Motta slowly starts to win fights, priding him self on not being knocked down, and having a face as hard as a rock, so his opponents punches don't phase him

As the movie progressed La Motta's character came across as a jealous small fisted arse hole of a boxer, and a man. He treats everyone around him like shit, especially his wife and he trusts no one.

The movie progresses and we see La Motta win more and more fights getting him closer to the big time, he does however have a food problem and constantly needs to crash diet. He has 1 fight before he can get to the title fight, some "mobsters" offer him a bribe to throw the match and go down in the 4th, La Motta being the prick that he is, decides he will lose in the 4th but wont go down, so he just decides to not fight back. After this blatant throwing of a match he is banned for 2 years.

We are then shown home movies and fights which take us through the years, showing La Motta have kids and get married, and his brother do exactly the same thing. The home videos are all in colour, yet the rest of the movie is totally black and white.

On his return he bizarrely has a title fight which he wins. This seems to drive him deeper into becoming an un-trusting guy even accusing his brother of sleeping with his wife. After he didnt get an answer that he wanted when he confronted his brother he beat him and his wife. For some reason his wife went back but his brother abandoned him.

La Motta wins a few more fights before losing to his nemesis Sugar Ray and decides to retire in Miami  where he proceeds to get fat.

After he has retired he turns in to more of a prick and starts kissing random women at his bar ect...

Long story short, he ends up in jail for offering a 14 year old (who was in his bar pretending to be a 21 year old) to some men (he thought she was 21) going to prison, losing his wife and all his money.

The film ends as it started with him in the dressing room, practicing his lines. He has become a single lonely guy with no friends.

Conclusion:

It was exactly what I was expecting, some boxer doing well while his private life suffers. I hated him as a person so i guess De Niro did a good job in playing the part.

I wasn't a massive fan of the black and white, but it did add to the 'grittiness' of his character.

The boxing action scenes were poor, you could see blatantly they were acting as their first were going nowhere near each others fists. Some good blood squirting action out of peoples faces.

Scores:

Visual 3

Didnt like the black and white, action was unbelievable 

Sound 3

Not really much in the way of music in this film, so cant really get a high score

Acting 8

Hated La Motta so well done from De Niro

Plot 5

This felt all too familiar and predictable, Rocky was a better movie

Ending 6

Glad to see he got what he deserved 

Over all - 25/50

A decent watch if you have nothing better to do. I don't intend to ever watch it again, so make of that as you will.

Thanks for reading. Next up The Apartment.......

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Bridge On The River Kwai #100

1957

Director  - David Lean (Directed Laurence of Arabia, also in the top 100 list)

Writer    - Pierre Boulle (Planet of the Apes)


Stars     

William Holden (Sunset Boulevard, also in the top 100) 












Alec Guiness (Lawrence of Arabia & star wars, also in the top 100)

Jack Hawkins (Also in Lawrence of Arabia and Ben Hur)













So the first movie on the top 100 is 56 years old. Now, im not someone who has watched many old films, so these are completely new to me really. One thing I do know about old films is, they are normally very very long, and this film was no exception. Im not sure if back in the day to decide if a film was good was how long it was, but this film could have been cut down quite a bit.

There are long periods in this where there is no dialog at all, just endless scenes of walking/working and strangely many scenes of birds. Im not sure if I missed the bird reference, but the same bird starts the film and ends it.

So, this movie can be split in to two parts, the first half is slow and boring, the second half is a little faster paced as the plot begins to pan out.

Kwai was set in 1942 during the second world war, for some reason Nicholson's men were ordered to be captured by the Japanese, and offer free labour.

First part;

As the movie starts the opening credits are shown over the initial scenes, one thing I did notice was this....

For anyone reading this who doesn't know, my home town is Sheffield, so I was well chuffed to see we had (lets be honest) the most important role in this film.

So the first hour is basically a power struggle between the Japanese Colonel Saito and prisoner, British Colonel Nicholson. This is set in the base camp/prison ran by the Japanese. Nicholson refuses to do any manual work, and all his troops stand by him and dont do any work. After many attempts to reason with Nicholson Saito finally decides he has to give in or the bridge wont be finished on time and he will have to kill himself. This goes on for an hour!!!

Part 2;

Shears (US Navy) escapes from the camp, manages to find a small village, they rescue him, get him back to fitness, send him on his way on a boat until he is spoted by a UK millatry plane in the ocean. Once saved he is taken to a military hospital, where is he is head hunted join the British special forces.

He is then tasked with a 4 man  team (and some locals as guides) to go back to the bridge, blow it up and return home.

Main things that got my attention in this movie are - the sheer lack of attention to detail, there are extras in the back ground just randomly shoveling 3 grains of sand from 1 hole, and placing them 3 feet to their side in a pile, some guys are using sledge hammers to tickle some rocks, and in one scene 3 guys are passing rocks in a line, they go from a ditch, to the side of the 3rd guy for no reason at all. 

Also in this film the night scenes are far too dark, its was impossible to tell who was who and what they were doing, daylight was much better back then for making a film.

After a very slow start the film did get better and by the end it was nail biting to see what would happen. Nicholson went from loyal British service man to traitor and back to loyal within 3 minutes. The closing 5 minutes were by far the best of the 2 hours and 25 minute film, the reasons for this are as follows;

• Some fire fight going off
• Shit blowing up
• No CGI back then so id say the bridge did blow up and an actual train fell down into the river

Any way, by far the best part of the whole film, a horrendously overly acted comedy death by Nichols. I laughed out loud it was that bad.

In conclusion, the first half let the film down, the second half made up for it. Could have been cut to an hour and a half and it would have been fine. I currently don't know why this movie made the top 100.

Score 

Visual  4

Crappy night scenes, dodgy editing 

Sound  3

not much in this area, some catchy whistling though

Acting  2

Pretty poor by everyone, only made good by Nichols death

Plot     6  

good story, just took too long to tell

Ending  6

Best part of the film.

21/50

would I watch it again? I don't think so, 1 time only movie.

If you have seen this move, please leave a comment with what you thought.

Thanks

Day 1

Luke's Movie Challenge
IMDB top 100 movies

I am totally new to this Blogging thing, so there is plenty of room for improvement. Ill be doing some no nonsense movie reviews, plain and simple.

The Challenge is to watch the top 100 moves on IMDB top 250 list. I was going to watch the whole list, but after some thought decided that would be a ridiculous idea as I just don't have time for that, so im doing the top 100.

After each movie I shall write a review and give it a score out of 10.

I can tell you are already hooked and cant wait for the blog to start proper!

Below is the List of the bottom 50 movies, some I have seen before, some I know but have never seen, others I have never heard of. Ill try and give an unbiased opinion of each movie as go through the list.

Now, I go to the Cinema most weeks  and watch a variety of movies, basically whatever is on but I hate Horror films or romantic period dramas, so I may struggle with some of them.

Anyway, you get the idea of whats going to happen, so on wards and up wards. Ill be starting with number 100 which is Bridge on the river Kwai. Never seen this or heard of it so here goes...

A little bit about the film before I start it...

Movie Poster

This guy is in it...

That's basically all I have researched.

Looks like a war film about a bridge, its old (1957), probably a load of crap but,  Lets find out.