Dr Strangelove Review

 

Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Stars: Peter Sellers, George C.Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn, Slim Pickens, Peter Bull, James Earl Jones & Tracy Reed.

Running Time: 95 mins

Release: 29 January 1964

At the height of the cold war, the paranoid & insane US Army General Jack Ripper (Hayden) believes that the Russians are poisoning the american populace through the water supply so he launches a nuclear attack on the Soviet Union through a back door mechanism without the knowledge or permission from his superiors. Only Ripper knows the code to shut down the attack and he's cut off all communications to protect his attack. Ripper's executive officer RAF Group Captain Lionel Mandrake (Sellers) who is being held prisoner by Ripper believes he knows the recall code to stop the attack, all he would have to do is contact the outside. He's the stiff British upper lip in the face of the absurdity and madness.

Meanwhile at the Pentagon, in the war room to be precise President Merkin Muffley (Sellers again) and the joint Chief of Staff, General Buck Turgidson (Scott) with other chief staff and the nuclear scientist and advisor who was a former Nazi scientist Dr Strangelove (Sellers) discuss measures to stop the attack or mitigate the attack into a full out nuclear war with the Soviet Union. Muffley brings in Soviet Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky (Bull) into the war room and Soviet Premier Dimitri Kisov on the hot line to inform him what's going on much to Turgidson's chagrin.

The Americans in the war room are shocked to learn the Soviets have an unannounced Doomsday Device which will detonate if any of their key targets are hit.

Meanwhile in the sky Major T.J “King” Kong (Pickens) on the of B-52 Bomber pilots has an agenda all of his own to deploy the bomb wherever he can over enemy soil if he fails to make the target.

As Peter Sellers, the comic legend plays three roles I will go into each of those individually.

I'll start off with Mandrake. Mandrake is a man and believes doing what is right; stopping Ripper's insane attack. I was really impressed how he kept his cool in the face of Ripper's insanity. He just goes along with it and is the epitome of the phrase 'Keep calm and carry on' which he does so wholeheartedly. Being honest I felt he was the only character that feels the real gravity of the situation at hand, the whole world is at stake whilst the Americans in the war room worry over the Nuclear Arms Race/War with the Russians. He is absolutely magnificent in all his scenes He's hilarious with how he handles people and the situation and he has a great accent.

As President Muffley he plays it absolutely straight and with absolute conviction as Muffley. He's really gloomy and neurotic. He's under a lot of stress in what to do with Ripper's attack.and to get ahead in the arms race and constantly worries how he'll look in the history books. Unlike most of the body that are in the war room, he does not share the same paranoia as his colleges as he calls in the Russians to know what they are doing much to their chagrin also his phone conversation with Dimitri which is one sided is perfect cinematic gold.

Saving the best to last Dr Strangelove. Sellers is absolutely insane as the good doctor and I loved every minute of his screen-time. Dr Strangelove is a former Nazi scientist who is now a senior head in Nuclear science in the US Government. He is trying to suppress his “darker' side I.e stop referring the President as Mein Fuhrer and stopping himself from doing the salute which is really funny to watch. As the events of the film transpires his darker side comes to the front as the possible outcomes narrow down his Nazi ideologies and behaviour come into play which surprisingly many of the people in the war room agree with !, also he has the greatest final line in a film i've ever heard “Mein Fuhrer !, I can walk !”. His facial expressions and delivery is faultless and that accent.

I was incredibly impressed with Sterling Hayden's performance as General Jack Ripper, he's utterly insane but is also believable. The idea that he has that the Soviet Union is poisoning the American water supply to make the public communist is absolutely preposterous and on that whim he goes to launch the attack !. He plays the part very well and with such conviction that he's got lost in the character. He has an amazing voice and he's such a great character.

Equally George C.Scott gives a brilliant performance as General Buck Turgidson. Like Ripper he's very paranoid but his finger is not on the trigger. He has some great lines in the film. To say anymore of his character would spoil it for you.

Keenan Wynn's plays Col. “Bat” Guano whom Mandrake meets in the film. He constantly accuses Mandrake of being a “prevert”.He has some absolutely fantastic lines in the film. The Coca Cola Machine comes to mind.

Slim Pickens has a ball of a time playing Major Kong the mad-cap pilot who's hellbent on dropping the bomb on the Soviet Union. He has a great southern accent and is in one of the most iconic shots of the film. He is one of the most absurd characters in this film.

Peter Bull who is a british actor play Soviet Ambassador Alexi de Sadesky, he does the accent very well and has some fantastic lines too. I am not going to spoil it for you what he does in the film but you can most likely guess.

James Earl Jones is in this film in a small role as Lt Lothar Zogg a fellow pilot on the B-52. You'll most likely recognise his voice from a iconic classic sci-fi character. I was surprised he was in this the only thing I have heard of him in was in Star Wars.

Tracy Reed plays Turgidson's mistresses Miss Scott who also happens to be his secretary. She has a very small role in the film and in all that time she's in a bikini. She's great and works really well in her one scene and the phone scene where Turgidson phones her in secret in the war room is brilliant. She's a very beautiful woman and was only 22 when she did this film but she's acted with Peter Sellers a few times during the 1960's she was in A Shot in The Dark which came out in the same year and Casino Royale in 1967 which is a spoof of Bond. Also she's seen in the playboy magazine that one of the pilots are looking through on the B-52.

Laurie Johnson did the soundtrack to this film and he's done a stellar job. I particularly love the opening theme which plays on the Blu-Ray Menu and is the main theme it's so classical and beautiful I could listen to it time and time again, he recorded soundtracks to some of the most iconic TV series of the time including The Avengers. Also the ending song is very ironic.

This film tackles really dark subject matter that being The Cold War and Nuclear Holocaust but in a darkly humorous way. Sex is also a theme in this film if you listen closely enough. It's a fantastic satire and captures the feeling of The Cold War at that time, If you don't know about the Cold War you should not watch this film. The comedy in this is of a particular taste. The characters are fantastic and well thought out and encapsulate the people they represent in a satirical way without being over the top. This film has some absolutely fantastic dialog and dry jokes of which many are quotable. I'm very impressed with this film in every single way the acting, script, shot and soundtrack.

I saw this film on Blu-Ray and it looks stunning for a 50 year old film and a fun little note Stanley Kubrick never left the UK for any of his films and this was filmed in Shepperton Studios and at Heathrow Airport !.

Overall I highly recommend this film and I personally think for when students study The Cold War they should watch this by default.

Blood Diamond Review

 

Blood Diamond

Director: Edward Zwick

Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, Jennifer Connelly, Kagiso Kuypers, Benu Mabhena, Basil Wallace, David Harewood Arnold Vosloo, Marius Weyers &Michael Sheen

Running Time: 143 Mins

Release: 26 January 2007

Set in 1999 in Sierra Leone, during the civil war, the Mende fisherman Solomon Vandy (Hounsou) village is attacked by rebels (the R.U.F Revolutionary United Front), Solomon gets his family away and he is kidnapped and made a slave to work in the diamond mines, he comes across a big pink diamond and he attempts to hide it, the brutal sadistic commander of the camp Captain Poison (Harewood) see's him hide it and just when he's about to get the diamond off him, a firefight breaks out as the army have attacked the camp. Solomon is arrested and put in a cell with many other prisoners and the injured Captain Poison comes through laid out on a stretcher and see's Solomon and asks about the diamond of which Solomon denies any knowledge of knowing him nor the diamond.

In another cell Danny Archer (DiCaprio) a former soldier & mercenary who's become a diamond smuggler from Rhodesia overhears this and is interested in Solomon and the diamond as it could settle the score between him and his former employer Colonel Coetzee (Vosloo).Archer arranges the release of Solomon , once outside he receives a roll of money from one of Archer's associates. Later Archer is released and he catches up with Solomon and offers to help him find his family in return for the diamond. Shortly thereafter they meet an American humanitarian journalist Maddy Bowen (Connelly) who will help Solomon find his family. Archer needs her help too to reach the location of the diamond. Though she soon realises that Archer is just using Solomon to get the diamond and refuses to help unless he becomes a whistleblower on the illegal diamond trade that funds the bloody civil war and it's links to a major diamond trade company run by Rudolf Van De Kapp (Weyers) and Rupert Simmons (Sheen) to end the illegal trade and conflict once and for all.

I have to say the acting in this is absolutely phenomenal, all the actors do an absolutely outstanding job making their characters feel like real people and are full of frisson.

I only know Djimon Hounsou from Gladiator and I have not seen that in years and he only had a supporting role in that. In this his role is much more bigger and prominent I was absolutely blown away by his outstanding performance as Solomon Vandy. He goes through a hell of a lot in this film to reunite with his family and will do anything to reunite with them and it's absolutely heart-wrenching, incredibly powerful and moving. He expresses so much not just with his voice but his voice, but with his body language and eyes you can tell he's literally gone through hell. He seems to me to be a peaceful man who does not want to be violent but when he does he goes to the extreme especially in one scene which I don't want to spoil for you. I am surprised he did not win an oscar.

Of the three leads he is is the most sympathetic as he's willing to intervene more than the others especially in one scene he brings an injured young boy that he does not even know aboard the bus to save him, He really wants to make a difference no matter how big or small.

It's revealed later in the film that he's son (Kuypers)has been kidnapped by the R.U.F and is made into a child soldier and this becomes the drive for him to find his son and rescue him to bring him back and these scenes are incredibly powerful especially one towards the end. His performance feels incredibly raw and real. The friendship between him and Archer which slowly builds and grow is fantastic to watch as they don't get along at first then as they go to know each other they become friends but they do have rough patches which i'll go into later.

DiCaprio delivers a outstanding and scene stealing performance as Danny Archer and I have to say he has the most character development of the three leads which i'll go into later on. I have known DiCaprio to be a very well regarded actor, though i've never seen him in anything before until I saw this and I was really impressed. Granted i've never heard the Rhodesian accent before but after watching this I know it's near the same as the South African accent.

Archer is a man who's seen it all and has lost most of his humanity and is completely selfish, greedy, sleazy, cynical and unlikeable. As the the film goes on and his relationships with Bowen and Solomon develops he regains some of his humanity through the way we learn more about him and how he became who he is and how this reflects on his actions. Within him there's a moral and loyalty conflict between who he once was and who he has become and this is seen mostly through his friendship with Solomon. As he was a soldier he knows how to handle a gun and has no problem with putting people down and he can be ruthless. In two scenes in particular I felt rather scared and threatened by him,these two scenes just goes to show the conflict within himself.

His character development feels very natural as does the growing sympathy for him as he slowly redeems himself, well for me anyway .His last scene is absolutely beautiful. I would not call him a hero,but an anti-hero. It's an amazing performance. I'm very keen to see more of his films.

His unlikely friendship with Solomon is particularly brilliant as they slowly respect each other and gain some common ground & understanding. It's one of the most natural friendship development i've ever seen on film and does not feel forced at all.

I've only seen Jennifer Connolly in Jim Henson's Labyrinth and that was many years ago when I was a child and this is the first serious film i've seen her in. She plays Maddy Bowen a humanitarian war journalist who covers the wars from the civilian point of view, as a journalist she is trying to end the war instead of just victimising the civilians for charity ads which no one cares for. She see's Solomon as a story but cares for him at the same time trying her best to reunite him with his family.

Her relationship with Archer is different it turns from resentment, mutual respect to platonic love. She uses him to gain evidence for her journalism and as she learns of his tragic background and his outlook on the world she sympathises and begins to develop feelings for him whilst getting information from him. I've heard that some people think that the relationship between her and Archer is heavy handed but I think it's a very subtle subplot and does not take away from the film in anyway. I think she's perfect in the role as a war journalist who's trying to make a real difference.

Kuypers is absolutely fantastic in his small but pivotal role as Solomon's son. We see snippets of his life as a child soldier from his initiation it's incredibly grim, horrid and sickening watching him get de-humanized. It's very raw indeed. He's fantastic going from bright eyed young kid to a dead behind the eyes cold blooded soldier who's just following orders. His scenes with his father are incredibly moving I am really surprised that he's not been in something since this. He's incredible in one scene towards the end i'll just say it involves an air strike.

I was surprised to find that Arnold Vosloo was in this, i've only known him to appear in the Mummy films and the Darkman sequels. Being honest this is the only time I have really seen him act and I must say he's absolutely fantastic in the role as Colonel Coetzee he's rather villainous as he wants the war to continue as he funds it and it's doing very well, also he's also quite philosophical too and he's great in the role. He's also South African which I did not know. Like Archer he shares some of the same traits that he did early on in the film, it just goes to show how it's effected him too.

I was also very surprised that David Harewood was in this too, I did not recognise him till he took off his sunglasses !. Once he did I recognised him immediately he's been in Homeland and a lot of BBC Dramas as he's an english actor. He's incredible and near unrecognisable in the character he played I never imagined that he could play such a role like this. He's a real nasty piece of work and viciously sadistic as Captain Poison. He's unrelenting and a true mad man who manipulates kids into becoming soldiers. It's like he's cam from hell and even he himself admits. It's like a demon has taken human form.

Also Basil Wallace is fantastic in his role as Benjamin Kapanay a teacher who's become a protector of former child soldiers trying to bring them back to normality, it's a very touching role as it shows that there are some good people aside the main three leads who are trying to do good and help and Benjamin is a clear example of that.

Also special mention to Benu Mabhena who plays Solomon's wife she's not in that much of the film but she's great especially in the camp scene it's really heartfelt and the kids that played child soldiers they have a lot of courage for the roles they did.

Marius Weyers and Michael Sheen were really good, I was surprised Sheen was not in it that much as his name features on the back credits, then again he's a well known actor.

Edward Zwick has done a masterful job directing this, it's absolutely outstanding, sometimes you forget your watching a film. He has not cut any corners nor does he let us flinch away from the realistic, raw, sheer brutal violence in the film, sometimes I held my hand in front of my mouth in shock especially in one scene near the beginning where one poor captive get's his hand lopped off !. The film shows there was atrocities on both sides.

Like in some of Zwick's films there's action set pieces and there's a few of those in here too all of which are incredible and had a lot of extras, you don't see that much on this scale these days, the big battle in the city, jeep chase scene and the air strike at the mine spring to mind. I was on the edge of my seat watching those, I was really wrapped up in them.

I cannot write this without mentioning how they captured the absolutely beautiful landscape of Sierra Leone despite the constant, eruptive bursts of violence it's a utopia (like one character says) it has awe inspiring mountainous ranges, lush jungles and hills full of vibrant colour and it looks absolutely stunning on Blu-Ray.

James Newton Howard has scored this film and I know that he's done many soundtracks to some films I have seen but never really paid attention to them as I was younger and don't look at films like I do now. He's done a tremendous job and the score sounds very natural and suit the atmosphere of the film and the music really emphasizes on the tension and emotions in the scenes and the piece that plays in the final scene is truly beautiful.

I have only one complaint with the soundtrack, right at the end at the start of the credits it plays Shine on 'em by Nas and it was written by Nas and James Newton Howard himself, I have no problem with any genre of music but I feel it ruined the feeling that I had at the end of the film, the lyrics were very good but I don't feel it suited the tone of the film.

The film is incredibly thematic; power, civil war, corruption, politics,hope, redemption and morality. I loved every single moment of it. It's incredibly well acted, filmed with stark realism and moments of pure beauty, a well fitted soundtrack and a very human story at the heart. If you love a film with a great story with real world issues and rich themes this is it.

The Lion In Winter Review

 

The Lion in Winter

Director: Anthony Harvey

Stars: Peter O'Toole, Katharine Hepburn, Anthony Hopkins, John Castle, Nigel Terry, Jane Merrow and Timothy Dalton.

Running Time: 134 mins

Release 29 December 1968

in 1183 Ad an ageing and conniving King Henry II's (O'Toole) plans a reunion with his family; his three sons want to inherit the throne the warrior prince Richard (Hopkins), The sly strategist Geoffrey (Castle) and the fool John (Terry), his scheming imprisoned wife Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine (Hepburn) and his young mistress Princess Alais (Merrow) and the young french king Phillip (Dalton) whom he plans to make a agreement with. Everyone engages in deception and treachery to get what they want.

Being honest i've never seen O'Toole in a film before (not in a cameo role) but I do know of him, he's a well regarded actor. He's absolutely phenomenal in this as the ageing strong King Henry II, who is rather embittered and has a quick fiery tempter and has become incredibly conniving, battle & emotionally hardened due to his long reign on the throne which he fought for. He's a very intelligent king and knows what he wants and knows how to get it.

He's gotten tired of his scheming wife Eleanor, they no longer love each other and as he has not annulled her he's locked her up in a tower and has done for 10 years so that he can retain what he has. He only brings her out for royal events to show face. He has a new mistress Princess Alais, he is no stranger to mistresses, he is with her as he loves her and she's much younger than his wife, though he plans to marry her off to one of his sons so that they can become king despite the fact that he loves her. It's a conflict within him.

For a king he does not dress as you would expect a king too, well what I would expect, he dresses like a pauper and a common man, to show he is the king that represents the people, he only wears regalia at special occasions. He's absolutely fantastic in the role in every single scene he is in exchanging venomous verbal barbs with his family or King Phillip. It's an absolute joy and delight to watch, every single one of them. It's a very passionate and whole hearted performance and he really brings the character to life.

I have not seen Hepburn in a film but she steals the film in this along with O'Toole. She's absolutely perfect in the role as the old brassy, sharp, deceitful, deceptive, spiteful Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, she's an equal match to Henry. She really knows how to hurt Henry and her three boys mostly Henry which she relishes . Especially as she recalls the rumours of her illicit affair with Henry's father which makes Henry reel. She has some of the greatest lines in the film one of my favourites is 'I could peel you like a pear, and even God, himself, would call it justice'

I knew that Hepburn is an American actress (the only American in this film) and she does not have a clear cut English accent (it sounds more American) I have no problem with that, it has no effect on her performance at all. She is an absolute delight to watch on screen. I was surprised to find out she was considerably much older than O'Toole when she did this she was in her early sixties and him in his mid forties though that does not really matter. She looked far more regal than Henry does. I have to say it she just inches in her performance over O'Toole.

Anthony Hopkins plays Prince Richard, Eleanor's favourite successor to King Henry's throne. A warrior who would rather fight in battle than watch it from a distance, he is quickly angered and intelligent like his father and sees he is the right heir to the throne. This is Hopkins second feature film role and I have to say he's absolutely excellent in it. I know that Anthony Hopkins is a classically trained and he really excels in this as the warrior prince. I have to say he rather looks like Russell Crowe in this film well in my eyes anyway especially with the hair cut. He's just as deadly with a sword as he is with words. He has mixed feelings about his mother one minute he loves her the next he loathes her. This film also mentions Richard's rumoured homosexuality with his relationship with King Phillip II. Which some films don't even mention Oliver Stone's Alexander comes to mind.

I really felt sorry for Richard as he gets emotionally manipulated by his Mother they are fantastic scenes especially one scene towards the end of the film I have to see this is one of my favourite roles that Hopkins has done. It's a very passionate role.

John Castle plays Geoffrey, the most intellectual and strategic son, he's no-ones favourite heir to the throne. To me he feels like the outsider of the three brothers, being honest his role reminds me of Tom Hiddleston's Loki in The Thor and Avengers film. He mostly takes a back seat in the arguments unless he wants to play his hand other than that he sits back and watches the fall out and enjoys it with a sly smirk on his face. He looks out the corners of his eyes constantly like a snake and he'll turn on anyone when it benefits him, I love the line he said to John ' If your a prince, there's hope for every ape in Africa'. I can't say I have never heard of Castle before but i'll look out for him in other films now.

Nigel Terry plays the foolish son John, the youngest and most spoilt of the three brothers, he has let his father down many times yet continues to forgive him. He believes his father loves him the most and that he should inherit the throne and is his Fathers favourite heir. He is slow and idiotic and believes the throne is his birthright. I can't say i've heard of Terry either but he plays a great character in this.

Timothy Dalton plays the new French King Phillip II who's come to visit King Henry to reach an agreement. This was Timothy Dalton's first film and he looks really young in this. (he was 24) He does not put on a French accent though that's not really important. As he is a new king and he's rather young, Henry mocks him by referring to him as 'boy'. He's also rather flamboyant and very well spoken far removed from Henry in some regards. I know Dalton from Hot Fuzz and the Bond films and I have not seen him anything else and he really surprised me in this he was great in the small role that he had and is just as deceitful as everyone else in this.

Jane Merrow plays Henry's young mistresses Princess Alais. She is planned to marry John as he is Henry's favourite heir but he also wants to keep their relationship going as he can do whatever he wanted. Her role is rather small but it's a pivotal one especially to Henry as to where his loyalty lies. She's fallen in love with Henry and is loyal to him. Though she is unsure of Henry's feeling towards her. She also has one of the best lines in the film 'Kings, Queens, Knights everywhere you look and i'm the only pawn. I haven't got a thing to lose - that makes me dangerous'.

The script is absolutely phenomenal in this it's very modern for it's time and it's incredibly sharp and well written and darkly funny in some places I loved it, one of the best scripts for a film in my opinion and the acting accompanies it perfectly. It's written by James Goldman who wrote the play of the same name.

John Barry did the music he's most famously known for doing the soundtrack to most of the Bond films before his death and I was really surprised by his score to this it's phenomenal it suits the atmosphere too a tee and really does add to the film and evoke a lot of emotion.

Anthony Harvey has done a spectacular job filming this it looks so beautifully shot. It was shot in France, Ireland and Wales and it looks so spectacular and scenic.The sets are spectacular too and look and feel very real, the attention to detail is painstaking from the sets to the props it's brilliantly done.

I don't want to say much more as I don't want to spoil it for you but I have to say it's the best drama i've ever seen and makes a great study in script and acting. If you love period dramas you'll love this and once you've seen it you'll remember most of the phenomenal dialog which is incredibly sharp and incendiary I loved it. I can only hope for a Blu-Ray release.

Dog Day Afternoon Review

 

Dog Day Afternoon.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Stars: Al Pacino, John Cazale, Chris Sarandon, Penelope Allen, Sully Boyar, Beulah Garrick, Carol Kane, Sandra Kazan Marcia Jean Kurtz, Amy Levitt, John Marriot, Estelle Omens, James Broderick, Charles Durning and Lance Henricksen.

Running Time: 125 Mins

Release: 21 September 1975

Set on true events.The film is set on the 22^nd of August 1972 in Brooklyn. Two optimistic amateur bank robbers Sonny (Pacino) and Sal (Cazale) go into a bank armed with guns to rob it. It should of only took half an hour. But it lasted 8 hours and turned into a complete media circus with the cops, crowds and TV camera's surrounding the bank .

Sonny is the brains of the operation and uses the hostages (the staff,manager and security guard) to bargain with the law; police detective Eugene Moretti (Durning) and a high up FBI agent Sheldon (Broderick). Inside the bank Sonny tries to get along with their captives and to stop Sal blowing his plan by killing the hostages.

I have only seem Pacino in one film before and that's another Lumet film Serpico, he was great in that but he absolutely blows the doors off it's hinges in this one. You can tell Sonny Wortzik is a man who's on the edge, he's very troubled, stressed and under a lot of pressure, who's not got much of a plan for the job, who can go off at any moment. you can tell this by his body language alone. The money from the job is to pay for his 'wife's' (Sarandon) operation. In the beginning of the movie Sonny is very nervous as the bank job gets going as him and Sal try to take control of the bank I love the way how he moved across the bank floor at such a speed that he slid and how he removed the gun from the parcel you can tell his amateur. He even has delusions that they'll get away. When the cops and media and crowds show up he starts to use them like putty in his hands by gaining sympathy from the crowds, media coverage and demands from the cops. These scenes are absolutely sublime i'll go into them later on.

As the events of the film unravel you feel sympathy for Sonny, well at least I do anyway as you get to know him. He even gets along with his captives some more than others but the scenes he shares with the bank manager Mulvaney (Boyar) and Sylvia (Allen) are particularly special. Who can forget his scenes with Charles Durning they are superb and one of my favourite highlights of the film, they have great chemistry and it's a complete joy to watch their shouting matches. To say anymore on other scenes would spoil it.

Pacino brings Sonny to life it's an incredible performance so energetic, manic, fresh,frantic, raw and angry and memorable, he also has a great voice too, no one could of done it better than him and he steals the film and has most of the great quotes in the film.

John Cazale is an absolutely fantastic actor who only made a handful of films, all of which were outstanding before his untimely death and this is one of them. He plays Sonny's partner in crime Sal a quite loose cannon who's not all that smart. You can tell he is just as nervous as Sonny but more reserved yet has his finger on trigger.. He does not talk that much in the film and expresses a lot with his body language. He's not as likeable as Sonny but you do feel some sympathy for him as does Maria (Levitt) as she gives him her rosary. He also has one of the greatest scenes in film history when Sonny asks him where do you want to go abroad when they get their jet and he responds Wyoming as Sal didn't know that Wyoming was in the states. His performance is just as memorable as Pacino's.

Charles Durning is an actor whom i've never heard of before but I have to say I was blown away by his magnificent performance in this film as Detective Moretti the man assigned to negotiate with Sonny and these scenes are explosive. Like Sonny and Sal he's a man on edge but on the other side of the law. All he wants is the ordeal to be over and done with and has a really hard time with negotiating with the police force and Sonny, it's incredibly frustrating as Sonny demands they holster their guns when he comes out as he's unarmed to negotiate with the police There's too many highlights to list in their scenes. Durning shows a lot of emotion in his scenes.

Chris Sarandon plays Sonny's wife Leon Shermer, Sonny is robbing the bank for him so that he can get a sex-change operation as Leon feels he's a woman that's trapped in a man's body. Being honest I have only seen Sarandon in Fright Night, The Princess Bride and A Nightmare Before Christmas. I believe this to be one of earliest roles. Leon and Sonny have a love/hate relationship and it really shows in the film.It's a terrific and incredibly convincing performance by Sarandon.

Even though Sonny and Leon are gay it does not take anything or give anything to the characters it's just a minor part of the characters I have little care for their sexuality, they are two brilliant characters.

Sully Boyar plays Mulvaney the bank manager who unwittingly gets entangled between Sonny & Sal and the cops. Ive never seen or heard of Boyar before but he's fantastic in this film. He's incredibly sympathetic and tries to calm the situation and somewhat get's along with Sonny. The scene with him, Sylvia and Sonny at the start of the film is brilliant as they suss he does not have a plan at all.

The most standout member of staff at the bank is Sylvia (Allen) she is the head of the girls that work there. She is very standoffish and plucky and headstrong and looks out for her fellow workers also her 15 minutes of fame scene is great.

The other women I have listed in the film play the bank tellers in the film. John Marriot plays Howard the security guard who's the first hostage to be freed that scene is absolutely hilarious in my opinion, I had no idea he was 82 !.

Also special mention to Lance Henriksen as he plays Agent Murphy the agent that drives Sonny, Sal and the hostages to Kennedy Airport. He only has a few lines but it's odd to see him so young, he's great in this and effortlessly cool like in many of his classic films including Terminator, Aliens and Near Dark.

Oddly this film has no soundtrack at all, which is a first I have never seen a film with no soundtrack before and it works really well as I think a soundtrack would ruin it. There's only two instances of music throughout the film Elton John's Amoreena which is used to open the film showing footage of a day in New York leading up to the robbery it's a great track and I could not imagine a better one it's place it's like New York is a character in itself and The Looney Tunes is on the background and the theme plays this is used to explain that the robbery has become a farce.

There's some absolutely fantastic scenes in this film as I have said many times before and I love the five minutes of fame ones especially the pizza man one which is my absolute favourite his reaction is class !. Lumet has done a absolutely outstanding job with the shots it's magnificent in how many shots he uses in the film especially in the bank with the panning shots.

It's a very thematic film and one in particular makes me compare this film to King of Comedy with the celebrity culture angle and that New York is a character in that too. The reason why it's called Dog Day Afternoon is because it was a hot lazy summers day when people just wanted to laze around and do nothing. All in all it's an absolute masterpiece of a film and has to be seen to be believed it's incredibly well acted, fantastic dialogue, darkly funny, taught, suspenseful, entertaining and incredibly well shot it's just a pity it's not on Blu-Ray.

Sin City Review.

 

Sin City

Directors: Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino & Frank Miller

Stars: Bruce Willis, Jessica Alba, Nick Stahl, Powers Boothe, Michael Madsen, Mickey Rourke, Jaime King, Carla Guigino, Elijah Wood, Rutger Hauer, Clive Owen, Rosario Dawson, Benico Del Toro, Brittany Murphy, Devon Aoki, Michael Clarke Duncan, Alexis Bledel, Mary Shelton,Josh Harnett & Frank Miller

Running Time: 124 mins

Release: 3^rd June 2005.

Sin City is based on Frank Miller's comic book noir series of the same name and this film is made up of the graphic novels/stories: The Hard Goodbye, The Big Fat Kill, That Yellow Bastard & The Customer is always right which book ends the film. Not going to lie I re-watched this film because Sin City 2: A Dame to Kill for is out this coming August and I have not seen this film in years and I wanted to revisit it. Sin City covers multiple stories of some of the denizens of Basin City.

The Hard Goodbye focuses on Marv (Rourke) a large muscular thug who's somewhat of a loner, Goldie (King) gives him the best night of his life, when Marv awakes he find's Goldie dead in bed next to him. He loved Goldie, she meant more to him than anything and now she's dead, he's gonna kill his way to the top to get her killer, the silent cannibalistic freak Kevin (Wood).

The Big Fat Kill focuses on Dwight (Owen) a hitman who's out to make a hit on Jackie 'Boy' Rafferty (Toro) who's out for a woman's blood. Dwight Kills him in Old Town which is run by his old flame Gail (Dawson), after the hit they find out he was a hero cop and killing a cop in Old Town breaks the truce between the mob and police and the Old Town Girls, which was the Girls are the law in their part of town and now they're coming for revenge.

That Yellow Bastard is about a good, clean honest cop called John Hartigan (Willis) who's near retirement and has a dodgy ticker. Him and his partner Bob (Madsen) go after a child rapist and killer Roark Jr (Stahl) who's taken a little girl called Nancy Callahan. Hartigan can't let him get away with it and kill again, Hartigan gets his man and shoots off his ear, hand and the parts they make him a man and just about to end him, Bob shoots him in the back, Hartigan survives and goes into hospital and Roark's father Senator Roark (Boothe) pays good money to fix him up to get revenge on him and make him to be a child rapist, Nancy writes to him every week that he is inside prison as he saved her, this carries on for 8 years she writes under a different name so Roark can't find her. Then the letters stop and Hartigan receives a letter with a severed finger and fears the worst so he pleads guilty to be let out on bail to find and protect Nancy (Alba) who's a daughter to him but Roark Jr is after her too, to continue where he left off.

As there's a lot of actors in this i'll go through it story by story. The Big Fat Kill first, That Yellow Bastard second and finally The Hard Goodbye as that's my absolute favourite of the three.

Clive Owen is a british actor and being honest I could not make out if it was an American accent or a British accent he was doing, though I should say it did not have any effect on how I felt about his performance in the film which is really good. Dwight is a hitman, a wanted hitman who is a finger print away from going to the chamber, so he has a new face (if you have read A Dame to Kill for and or see the upcoming Sin City film you'll see/know why). He's very methodic and plans his next move in every situation throughout the film He's also very charismatic and intelligent and takes risks. I really love the scene where he is in the car talking with the dead Jackie Boy it's brilliant and has to be seen to be believed it's also darkly funny, he has also has a penchant of wearing red converse trainers and classic muscle cars.

Rosario Dawson is Gail she runs Old Town, she is the Girls leader and you may have guessed that the Girls are prostitutes. She's Dwight ex and does not like the fact that he bought the trouble to him but helps him regardless as she still loves him, she's tough as nails and as Dwight remarks she is his 'warrior woman' . Being honest I have not seen Dawson in much aside Percy Jackson and The Lightning Thief and Seven Pounds, this was made a few years before then, She also features in The Hard Goodbye and she'll be reprising her role in A Dame to Kill For. She's great in the role of Gail and when I read the graphic novel I see Dawson. She also dresses very provocatively

Del Toro plays Jackie 'Boy' Rafferty a hero cop, in Basin City. He's a woman beater and a drunk. He looks very dishevelled and his language is slurred and Del Toro is perfect in the role as the dirty cop who does not seem to be a cop at all. He is a brute and has a really dark sense of humour like I mentioned before I love the scene when he's in the car with Dwight and their first encounter In the bathroom where Jackie makes the mistake of not flushing.

Now this brings me to two of the big characters in this story who have unfortunately passed away way too soon; Michael Clarke Duncan as Manute and Brittany Murphy as Shellie.

Manute is a henchman to an unnamed boss, as Michael Clarke Duncan was of a very large man and was very imposing and was a very gentle and kind man who had a knack for playing villains but also stole the show as John Coffey in The Green Mile he was absolutely brilliant actor and he was perfect as Manute is a man of few words but very intelligent as is dressed like a chauffeur and is perfect in the role of Manute. The character will be played by Dennis Haysbert in a Dame to Kill for as it's set before the Big Fat Kill.

Shellie is a bar maid at Kadie's the strip bar where Marv, Hartigan and Dwight visit in their stories and is a landmark in Basin City so Shellie features in all three stories the biggest being in this one. She was Jackie Boy's squeeze at one point till he beat her and she left him for Dwight. Being honest I have not seen Murphy in much as this is the most I have seen her act and she's brilliant in the role as Shellie throughout despite not having much screen-time, she's had enough of being smacked around by Jackie and his goons. She is incredibly beautiful actress also has a great lovely sweet voice too, it's unfortunate that she died at the age of 32 a few years ago she's a brilliant actress, she'll be sorely missed.

It's very sad in some part watching this film knowing these two amazing actors have died, it's very haunting.

Devon Aoki plays Miho or as Dwight calls her 'Deadly Little Miho' she does not have a single line in this film so she has to emote using her body language and facial expressions, she does not express much as she's a silent bad ass just like she is in the comic book. She's one of Gail's girls but she's not a prostitute, she's a protector and a guardian watching over Old Town. She has some terrific action scenes too. In a Dame to Kill For she'll be played by Jamie Chung, as Aoki wants to focus on her family, it would be interesting to see how Chung is in the role.

Bruce Willis plays John Hartigan, a detective in Basin City Police with a 30 year service and a dodgy ticker. He's one of the few good cops, he is selfless, cynical and gruff and calls himself 'stupid old man' he can withstand a lot of pain. Hartigan has not featured in many of the Sin City Stories though Frank Miller has said that he plans to write a story set before That Yellow Bastard. Willis is brilliant in the role, at the time of filming Hartigan was considerably older than himself but with A Dame To Kill this year he is much closer to his age. He forms a father figure bond with Nancy and see's her as his own daughter. Nancy has in love with Hartigan as he saved her. He has a cross scar on his forehead and wears a suit, tie and trench coat and his cannon is his magnum. I have to say this is my absolute favourite role that Willis has done in my opinion he's perfect as Hartigan and he'll be appearing in Nancy's story and Marv's Just Another Saturday Night.

Jessica Alba get's a lot of flack for her acting, she's mostly known for her very beautiful look therefore discredit her as an actress, and after seeing her in a few films I have to say she is pretty good actress, she has done a lot of great films and is going from strength to strength. Nancy is one her earliest roles and she's perfect in the role as Nancy Callahan. She remembers Hartigan very well and constantly writes to him and over the years she has fallen in love with him, something of which Hartigan is against at first. She's a very strong woman and intelligent but needs Hartigan to protect her, we'll see how different she is In the sequel. Like others she pops up in other stories most notably Marv's as he has a crush on her. There's been some complaints about the difference between Nancy in the film and in the graphic novel as she's a dancer at Kadie's Bar, and you may know already what they are but personally I am not that bothered by it to be honest.

I've only seen Nick Stahl in one film and that one film is Terminator 3: Rise of The Machines and I know he was in the American series Carnivale. He was pretty good in Terminator 3 for what it's worth but he's far much better in this as Roark Jr also known as The Yellow Bastard, you'll have to see the film or read the graphic novel to know why but you can properly guess what I mean. He's a real evil sadistic creep in this film and looks it to both before and after his 'transformation' it's a pity I have not seen him in many films, but I have to say he has one of my favourite lines in this film 'You can't even lift that cannon' I love that line.

Michael Madsen is a regular collaborator with Tarantino so it was not a complete surprise he was in this, he plays Bob, Hartigan’s partner and a corrupt cop who betrays Hartigan for the Roark family. He has a great chemistry with Hartigan as they have meant to be partners for years and despite his betrayal Hartigan still gets on with him. It's a great little role.

In a small but pivotal role in the Sin City mythos is Senator Rourke the main villain in Sin City, he runs Basin City and he's the father to Roarke Junior, Boothe plays him exceedingly well. I have only seen Boothe in Southern Comfort, if you have not seen it you need to see it, it's awesome. He's incredibly dastardly,corrupt and evil and untouchable and hopes that his one and only son Roark Jr that will become President. He only features in one scene; the hospital scene and he steals the whole scene I love how evil his eyes looked too, he looked really menacing.

I have to say casting Mickey Rourke as Marv is perfect, they could of not picked a better actor to play him, in film he's of a slightly smaller build but still a big guy. Marv is a legend in Basin City, he has a hulking build, a heavily scarred face, brilliant fighting skills and highly intellectual but mostly uses his brute strength though he is no thug. He's loyal, chivalrous, kind does not kill anyone who don't deserve it though never feels guilty about killing paid hit men, he has ethics and a moral code and don't like 'men roughing up dames'. He really enjoys slowly killing people that truly deserve it in the most horrific fashion.

He has an unknown mental condition that makes him confused and is afraid of going to far and becoming a maniac, he uses med's to keep his condition under control.

He has a platonic relationship with Nancy whom he see's himself as her guardian angel and his parole officer Lucille (Guigino), they adore Marv and will do anything they can for him.

He also has a soft calm voice, a wry laconic sense of humour and a dark one and a penchant for 'damn fine coats' and old fashioned muscle cars, he see's newer ones looking like electronic razors and has a handgun called 'Gladys' which he has since he was a young man and named it after one of his favourite teachers. He really does bring the character to life and is the best depiction of a comic book character I have ever seen he nails it and I cannot wait to see him again in a Dame to Kill For. I love every single scene he is in.

I particularly love the scene with his mother I am not going to spoil it for you but it's endearing, tender and quite funny. He also pops up in The Kadie's Bar scene in The Hard Goodbye, I love the expression on his face when he see's Nancy run to Hartigan. Also Dwight who is Marv's friend, gives the perfect monologue to Marv. You can't help but the love the guy and root for him. It's one of Rourke's finest for sure.

Jaimie King plays Goldie, the only woman who shows Marv physical affection and offered herself in return for protection, Marv loves her. Her death is the start of his campaign to find her killer. She also plays her twin sister Wendy who's also a prostitute and a leader in Old Town who initially thinks Marv killer her sister and the other prostitutes, Marv see's her as the rougher twin, to say anymore would spoil it for you. I have not seen Jaime King in anything else but she is great in the role(s).

Before he played the sympathetic serial killer Frank, he played Kevin a nutty religious mute cannibalistic killer who's not in the least sympathetic at all, it's a silent role for Wood, he does not express much emotion as he is evil and only smiles when he knows he has inflicted pain or horrifically mentally scarred one of his victims, he's a completely evil little bastard who's incredibly quick and quiet and has a penchant for wearing circular glasses and sweaters. The fight scenes between him and Marv are fantastic and being as this was made a few years after Lord of The Rings it must of shocked some and I have to say Elijah Wood is perfect for playing creepy serial killers.

Rutger Hauer plays Cardinal Roark, Senator Roark's brother. Cardinal got his brother that position in power, just like his brother he is corrupt and has a heavy influence in politics He also joins in Kevin's sick activities believing that when they eat the prostitutes flesh that it'll bring him and Kevin closer to god. He's the only person Kevin speaks to and apparently he has a voice like an Angel. Hauer has only a little role in the film but it's a fantastic role and he is completely chilling but calm.

Carla Guigino who's collaborated with Rodriguez before in the past with the Spy Kids films, this is her most recent collaboration with Rodriguez though she has done one other iconic comic book film The Watchmen. She plays Lucille who is Marv's parole officer, she also featured in That Yellow Bastard. She has a more prominent role in this. She is a lesbian and her girlfriend supplies her with antibiotics to keep Marv's condition under control as she cares for Marv and Marv see's her a friend and their meeting we see in this is brilliant, her girlfriend tried to analyse Marv but got scared. She's a fantastic actress that we simply don't see enough of.

Also Josh Harnett plays the Salesman, Mary Shelton plays The Customer in The Customer is Always Right which the film opens too and is bookended with the Salesman meeting Becky played Alexis Bledel who has a small role in The Hard Goodbye and The Big Fat Kill. I haven't commented on the acting as they are only small roles. Also watch out for Frank Miller's cameo in The Hard Goodbye !.

Robert Rodriguez, Graeme Revell and John Debney are responsible for the absolutely nigh on perfect soundtrack it suits the neo noir atmosphere of the film completely once you've seen the film you'll want the soundtrack it's an absolutely iconic soundtrack, it's eerie, beautiful, thrilling, haunting and incredibly exciting.

This film is filmed digitally and there was only three sets made; Kadie's Bar, Shellie's apartment and The Hospital Corridor everything else was done on green screen, to me most of it looked real which is a feat in itself. I should also note this film is filmed in almost all black and white just like the comic book and it's shot to panel perfect. There's a few splashes of colour in certain scenes and blood splatter, clothing, and people's eyes to make them piercing and stand out which is a terrific effect. Visually it looks stunning and arresting in every single sense especially on Blu-Ray.

This is the best comic book adaptation I have ever seen and Rodriguez best film in my opinion, Miller supervised the film and Tarantino directed one scene though I am not sure which one exactly. They've done a top up job bringing Basin City to life. It's very thematic too; corruption, love, lust murder, oaths, loyalty,death, justice, revenge & morality.

You'll need a strong stomach to watch this it's pretty gory but also darkly comic.

It's an onslaught both visually and audibly. Sin City comes at the screen at 80mph and does not let up for a second it's relentless and if it's your first trip to Basin City your in for a real treat. I for one need to catch up and get the graphic novels and return to the world of Sin City onscreen in August which I cannot wait for.

The Wolverine: Extended Cut Review.

 

The Wolverine: Extended Cut

Director: James Mangold

Stars: Hugh Jackman, Tao Okamoto, Rila Kukishuma, Hiroyuki Sanada, Svetlana Khodchenkova, Brian Tee, Hal Yamanouchi,Ken Yamamura, Will Yun Lee and Famke Janssen

Running Time: 132 mins

Release:16^th July 2013

Before writing this review I have to say I have only seen the Extended Unrated Cut and I know the differences between the cuts between the Theatrical version and the Extended Version, this version is more violent and bloody, f-bombs and a cigar and is the best film with Wolverine in, well in my eyes of what he's supposed to be.

This is far better than Wolverine Origins that came out a few years back there was too many characters and the plot was jumbled and a mess and I did not much care for Logan, the only things I liked about that was Leiv Schreiber as Sabertooth and the intro credits scene. I also didn't much like X-Men The Last Stand either that was very disappointing. X-Men; First Class and The Wolverine have put the X-Men Franchise back on form.

Set two years approximately after the events of X-Men The Last Stand, Wolverine/Logan (Jackman) has left the X-Men and living in the wilderness grieving and haunted over the death of Jean Grey/Phoenix (Janssen) the woman he loved but had to kill as she had become the Dark Phoenix. At a bar Logan encounters a hunter who's party was killed by a grizzly bear who was hit with a poisonous arrow which made the creature killing his friends, Logan does not like how they handled the bear they should of just killed it and put it out of it's misery. Unknowingly Logan is being watched and a fight is about to break out at the bar until Yukio (Kukishuma) a young japanese woman intervenes, they escape before the police arrives and she tells him that she's been looking for him for over a year on behalf of her master Yashida (Yamanouchi).

During the second world war Logan was a prisoner of war in Japan, Yashida (Yamamura) was an officer at the camp, he see's a B-29 bomber fly over and sounds the alarm, he frees all the prisoners allowing them to escape and he cuts the chains to Logan's well cell but he does not go knowing it's safe down the well, he advises Yashida to get knowing it'll be safe. Yashida lines up with his comrades to commit ritual suicide and is just about to do it until he see's Nagasaki burning, he has a change of heart and decides to run, Logan who climbed out of the well tells him to jump down the well, he does and Logan uses the lid as a blast shield to cover Yashida well he takes the brunt of the explosion, shortly after Yashida looks up beneath the blast shield and see's Logan healing fully from whole body third degree burns.

Yashida has invited Logan to Japan to say thank to Logan for saving his life all those years ago as he is dying of cancer which has ravaged his body but he also has asked for Logan for other reasons. To say any more would be spoilers.

Hugh Jackman is perfect for everyone's favourite Canadian, cigar chomping clawed bad ass, as Jackman gets older her more and more looks the part. Dare I say it but I honestly think this is the most character development i've seen of Wolverine in the films. He's far more vulnerable than he has been before, for most of the film he does not his regenerative powers so he could easily bite the bullet. He's given far more depth too; Early on in the film he vows no longer to kill again after the death of Jean Grey of which he still dreams and haunted by. Of course he almost breaks this rule when he encounters the hunter at the bar. He needs a reason to live and fight on because he's lived for so long and fought in so many wars and seen many of his loved ones die by his own hand or out of his control. Mariko (Okamoto) gives him a purpose he protects her, he unwittingly becomes her body guard and eventually falls in love with her.

Also I should mention this is the first time I have ever seen have a friend in any capacity with Yukio (Fukushima) who also becomes his protector. They have great chemistry together. I am really pleased with the development they gave Logan in this film compared to the other films, I actually like him a lot more as a character than I have done before. They hit the right tone of Logan being a bad ass killing machine and being a sympathetic, emotionally racked lonely man. Of course Logan still has a sense of humour and I love it when he goes through the body scanner and it goes wire and he says “it's a hip replacement !” there's also some fish out of water moments. You can tell Jackman is having a ball with the role and he's perfect in it, if this role was 20 or so years ago Clint Eastwood would have been perfect, hell Jackman looks like Eastwood I am surprised he has not done a western yet. Also he feels a bit like James Bond in this and there's a reference which I am not going to spoil. He also reminds me somewhat of Han Solo.

I know that this film is based on Chris Claremount's and Frank Millers run of Wolverine well a story arc and I knew of the characters but not much of them till I saw this film.

Yukio (Fukushima) is equally as bad ass as Wolverine and a absolutely fantastic character she's a mutant like Logan as she can foresee the future. I love her for the fact that she is the first ever friend we see for Logan in the films, She's not really a sidekick as she's more than that and capable to hold her own and risks her life to defend Logan !. She has great chemistry with Jackman in the film it feels very natural as there budding friendship grows it's great to watch she's also Mariko's childhood friend. She has some absolutely fantastic fight scenes even better than Logan's I may add !. I've never heard of Rila Fukushima before and this is her first western film and I hope to see more of her and hopefully in the next Wolverine film or Days of Future Past. She's an excellent actress and her delivery is top form she looks a bit strange but very beautiful.

Mariko (Okamoto) is Logan's love interest, she is the grand-daughter of Yashida, and again like Rila in her role of Yukio this is her debut western film, well first film in Tao's case and she's equally brilliant. She's very headstrong and believes doing what is right and is the successor to her grand-father's legacy. The relationship between her and Logan develops well, you could see it coming but it was no where near forced at all it's quite natural. I hope to see more of her in the future.

Viper (Khodchenkova) is one of the villains of the film, she is a mutant who has a snake like tongue and can shed her skin and spit acid, she's also a scientist, being honest I was not all that paying attention as she is a background character. In the comics she's also known as Madame Hydra who's an enemy of the X-Men and The Avengers and is somewhat a anti-hero, she's a completely different character in the film aside the name. Also I did not notice whilst watching the film that Khodchenkova's voice was dubbed, I only realised afterwards. Khodchenkova is Russian and hence has a thick Russian accent and early on the film you can hear she talks with a Russian accent and later on in the film it's American, she is my only gripe with the film.

Hiroyuki Sanada plays Shingen, Yashida's son and Mariko's father and is the head of his father's company as he is very ill and not fit enough to run it himself. He's ruthless and cruel and only concerned with himself. I have seen him before in Danny Boyle's Sunshine. He is a absolutely fantastic diverse actor. He has some fantastic fight scenes throughout the film, the best being his fights with Yukio and Logan. If there was ever a Tekken film he should play Kazuya

Yamanouchi and Yamamura play Yashida old and young respectively. As a young man in the war he's very admirable and sympathetic as he free's the P.O.W's. After the war he builds his own successful company and see's the attributes in his grand-daughter and not his son. He is dying as he has succumbed to cancer. He is very friendly, humble and polite but does not want to die. They are brilliant actors and they play the part very well. This is the first film i've seen two actors play the same character young and old.

Will Yun Lee plays Harada Mariko's personal bodyguard and childhood friend, he is smitten with Mariko but does not tell her. I did not recognise him at first and then it struck me he plays Sang Min in Hawaii 5-0 a recurring character in the series, he also voices Wei Shen in Sleeping Dogs, he looks much younger than his years . He is proven to me he's a very capable actor as in 5-0 he plays a likeable rouge who's also part comedic character and in The Wolverine he plays a completely different character. He is also a bad-ass like Logan and Yukio with his skills with a bow and the chase scene with him is absolutely awesome, with him you don't really know what side he's on.

Brian Tee plays Noburo, Mariko's unscrupulous fiancé, he does not have much screen-time but that scene with Logan in is brilliant I loved it. It's quite comedic.

Famke Janssen plays Jean Grey, she occurs in Logan's dreams, as he is haunted by her death by his hand, she guesses that it won't end well as everyone Logan has loved has died. She helps him overcome his guilt to move on, as she taunts him that he could die and be with her. It's great to see Famke Janssen as Jean Grey again, she's brilliant in the small role.

Marco Beltrami does the score to The Wolverine and it's a fantastic score, it's a classical score with a oriental twang to it and it's brilliant this is the second time I have really appreciated a Marvel Film Soundtrack the first one being the Thor The Dark World which is even better than this one. I can't really say i've heard of Beltrami before.

James Mangold is a absolutely fantastic director, I have not seen any other of his films but I know of his body of work and now I am very keen to see his other films, he's directed Walk The Line and Copland. This is a very stylistic film, beautifully shot, character rich, punchy script with great brutal action set pieces it's awesome, and a teaser at the end that made me feel very giddy and excited, it made me feel like a child again. I can't really say anymore without spoiling it but this film showcases Wolverine is the best in what he does, if your a fan of Wolverine you have to see this, well the Extended Cut it really gives you the whole picture. It's one of the best comic book film's i've ever seen.

LA Confidential Review

 

LA Confidential

Director: Curtis Hanson

Stars: Guy Pearce, Russell Crowe, Kevin Spacey,Kim Basinger, James Cromwell, Danny DeVito, David Strathairn, Graham Beckel, Darrell Sandeen, Ron Rifkin and Simon Baker.

Running Time: 138 mins.

Release: 31^st October 1997

The film is based on the James Ellroy novel of the same name. It's set in the 1950's LA and the film focuses on three different cops in the same precinct; Jack Vincennes (Spacey) a supervisor to a cop show, he's a sleazy detective and always after fame and money, he gives his friend Sid Hudgens (Vito) the writer of the magazine Hush Hush information and he in turn gives him tip offs. Edmund J. Exley (Pearce) the police force's golden boy who believes in 'Absolute Justice' and would do anything to get ahead and Wendell 'Bud' White (Crowe) a cop who's more than willing to break the rules to seek justice but has a near uncontrollable violent rage of which his superior Dudley Smith (Cromwell) uses to his advantage.

Mickey Cohen has been locked up for 10 years on tax evasion and two mysterious hoods are wiping out his underlings, there's been a robbery & mass murder at The Night Owl and one of the dead vic's is a recently fired cop who was Bud's partner Dick Stensland (Beckel), a young out of work actor has been murdered and a multi millionaire business magnate is suspected of a running a high class prostitution and porn company, are they all linked ?

This film is a homage to Noir in it's purest sense with glamour, sex, corruption and cold blooded murder. I should note that I have seen this film before, a few years ago, though I did not watch it properly but now that I have seen it again a few years older it's like watching a brand new film and it's simply an amazing masterpiece. I should note there is some humour throughout.

Guy Pearce is an Australian actor who's breakout role was in Neighbours back in the day then on to Australian film of which he still dabbles into today with The Rover coming out later this year, anyway this is his first Hollywood break out role.

Exley is at heart a good cop who, one who's willing to do anything to get ahead even if his own department hates him for it to impress his superiors and get results. Early on in the film you sense he wants to do right and root out the bad apples of the police force but as the events of the film roll around he becomes more career minded and selfish and loses his sense of morality but the hospital scene there is a change which i'll mention later, he goes back to whom he was early on though more hardened. Exley is a well rounded character He's absolutely fantastic in every scene, my favourite scenes with him in are his interrogation with the three initial suspects of The Night Owl, his confrontations with Bud, when he's with Jack Vincennes at a bar where he meets Lana Turner there is a joke, I am not going to spoil it but it's really funny !. Also the last half hour. He's very intelligent and ruthless and has a moral code to him like Bud.He does a really good a american accent and this is one of my favourite roles that Pearce has done.

A pivotal scene is when the rape victim Inez Soto (Marisol Padilla Sanchez) talks with Exley in hospital and he's wheeling her around in a wheelchair and the media are there and they brand Exley a hero and she tells him would people really care for her as she's mexican woman who was raped by three black young men if they did not kill the ex-cop ?, it makes Exley think and change his outlook to what he's doing.

Bud is a detective, well more like Smith's personal muscle as Bud has a violent temper and in my opinion he's the most fleshed out and sympathetic by that I mean giving a background. Bud is a great cop who bends the rules to get justice by killing a perp and and using another gun firing a shot into a wall and planting a gun in his hand so it looked like self defence, he also despises woman-beaters with a passion due to his father beating his mother to death in front of his eyes, he defended her before but could not that time. He defends women, I really love the scene where after they find a rape victim tied up in a hovel where the three perps raped her, Bud goes in and free's her and is the only one to protect her and cover her up and when she's being sent to hospital in an ambulance , Exley tries to question her about her ideal and Bud stops him as Exley was being insensitive and only trying to further his career. Like Exley he changes in his growling relationship with Lynn Bracken (Basinger) who brings him out of his shell and is the driving force for him to become a proper detective instead of beating up perps that Smith wants to interrogate. It's a stunning performance by Crowe I have not seen him in that many movies but he's brilliant in this. He's determined, driven, angry and intelligent. He's a Kiwi and like Pearce he does an american accent very well.

I have not seen Spacey in anything much aside Superman Returns and I know he has a penchant for playing villainous characters and this he's know villain but he has traits of one in the role of Vincennes, a detective who is a supervisor on a 1950's cop show which is based on his own career. Who get's his name mentioned in Hush Hush because he gets tipped off by his friend Hudgens who runs the magazine and they are friends. Vincennes is an amazing character and Spacey plays him with such conviction and honesty he's very sleazy but somewhat likeable. Like Exley and White he changes by regaining some morality. Like Crowe and Pearce he's perfect in his role

I particularly love the scene where he tells Exley that he's forgotten the reason why he became a cop, he has a blank & pitiful look in his eyes like he wants to remember why he but he can't due to all the things he's done. One thing I should really credit this film for is that it wants me to see more films with Spacey in.

I have only seen Basinger in Batman, another film I have to revisit, she's a very good actress but has not done all that much but as the saying goes it's more about quality than quantity. Basinger plays Lynn Bracken a high class prostitute that is cut to look like Veronica Lake, as her boss Pierce Morehouse Pratchett (Strathairn) and being honest in the film she very much looks like Veronica Lake !. Not much background is given to her though it's not necessary but if you've read a Ellroy novel before you may know what I mean. Her role easily could have been a tart with a heart role but it's much more than that, she wants to get away from Hollywood, she knows her dream of Hollywood has faded, she wants to do something that she really wants to do. At first you don't know what to make of her but the intimate scenes between her and Bud share bring more out about them as they reveal more about themselves than they do to anyone else and develop as characters. She's a very beautiful woman and she smoulders in this film and her performance is just as good as the three leading men.

James Cromwell is an actor I recognize as an actor but I have forgotten his name on numerous occasions, you may know him most famously from Babe and Spiderman 3, I have always thought he was British due to his name and that he does an English accent so well in some films, to my shock I found out he's American. In this film he does an Irish and American accent and he plays Captain Dudley Smith, his character reminds me of a certain someone from the video game LA Noire . He is very charismatic and very confident in himself and has the steel to rule his men, he's never questioned and does not like to be challenged.

The final big part of this film is Danny DeVito as Sid Hudgens, Vincennes friend and business partner. DeVito is known for his comedy roles like in Matilda, Throw Momma From The Train, Romancing The Stone and many others. This and Batman Returns (somewhat) are the most serious roles that I know DeVito has done and he's really likeable despite the fact that he's character is a magazine editor who's looking for more fame and money and would easily double cross some of his friends (aside Vincennes) for a quick buck. So he's like most people in his position. I particularly love the scene when Smith and his men rough him up, you really feel sorry for him and how it shot is very well done, it does not flinch from the violence.

To mention any more about the acting will spoil so I won't say no more on it.

It's a real shame Curtis Hanson has not done a film on this level since, it's masterfully shot and he's hit the nail on the head for authenticity, there's not a shot that didn't feel right or fit in. It's simply perfect. From Bud and Stensland stopping off at marital dispute on Christmas Eve to the drive away at the end. I love Sid Hudgens narration at the beginning glamorizing LA and it's criminal underbelly using stock footage it's brilliant, it really sums up the film for me.

I love the sets, costumes, automobiles, interiors everything it's amazing it's flawless, they really went out on this it's incredibly authentic, it helps you get lost in the film, you get encapsulated into the world that Hanson and Ellroy have created.

Jerry Goldsmith has done it again, an iconic, classic score to a neo-noir classic film every scene gets a superb accompanying piece of music and I have to say it's my favourite score that Jerry Goldsmith has done even better than Chinatown.

I should note there's some differences between the film LA Confidential and the book which is more in depth with subplots and changes in events and the book spans a few years, the only book I have read by Ellroy yet is The Black Dahlia.

There's a lot of themes throughout racism, morality, corruption, sex, glamour, murder and redemption it's an absolute fantastic film I love it even more now that I have revisited it and it has rejuvenated my interest in James Ellroy, I think i'll read The Big Nowhere this summer.

This film has it all, a perfect cast, rich characters, a perfect cracking script, brilliant authentic production design a iconic score and beautifully shot, what else could you ask for ?, this for me is the best noir I have seen it beats Chinatown and Blade Runner, I love those but I love this even more, if you love noir and have not seen this your in for a fine fine treat..