Stale Popcorn

We’re coming to the “big subsections” now. The one’s that contain the DVDs I could not live without. The ones I consider to be genuinely brilliant films that I am just so thankful to have encountered. They are the ‘Vintage Masterpieces’ and the ‘Modern Classics’ – split by a defined time period, chosen by me, and segregated as a result. The ‘Vintage Masterpieces’ is a subsection we’ll look at soon but, right now, we’re going to get down to looking at Part One of the subsection marked ‘Modern Classics’.  

These are the films that were released 1990 or after, are flawless in my opinion as a fan and are exemplarily entries into their respective genres. So whilst you may not think they were ‘great’, I would compare them to other films of their type and consider them to be ‘great’ in comparison. I know I’m going to get flamed for these next four issues, specifically the two for ‘Modern Classics’, because I get a lot of shit off my own friends for “certain” titles being included.  

However, these are my thoughts on my favourite modern films that I believe deserve to be considered as classics of their respective genres. You may disagree, you’re entitled to at the end of the day. But I stand by these babies! Without further ado, let’s take a look at Part One of the DVDs I consider to be Modern Classics:

Almost Famous: The Bootleg Edition

I rated this as my film of the year so I don’t say this lightly but the ‘Untitled’ (director’s cut) version is even BETTER. Yeah, it slows the pace of the film down with some additional subplots and the stretching out of lesser characters crushed by the edit of the original release, but this is a film where that sort of thing doesn’t actually hurt. It’s a film driven by characters, wonderfully captured and detailed characters at that, not by plot. If you haven’t seen this version of the film, I urge you to check it out.  

American Beauty

The critical tide may have turned slightly against this film in the last few years, for some reason, but don’t be swayed. In terms of filmed performances, this is a universally superb piece of ensemble work. Revisit it now and don’t let Kevin Spacey’s performance distract you from paying deserved credit towards the likes of Annette Benning and Chris Cooper who deliver the sort of work that will be studied for decades to come as pure perfection! Hell, even Wes Bentley does good work – and look at the diabolical stuff he’s handed an audience since! 

American Splendor

I avoided this film like the plague when it was first released. I thought it sounded pretentious and not at all the sort of thing I’d be interested in. I didn’t buy into the hype and it was only a couple of years later that someone sat me down and forced me to watch it and I fell instantly in love. It’s pitch-perfect in it’s performances, it’s script is beautifully formed and it’s direction is refined and post-modern, intelligent and unique without being artsy-fartsy. A real joy and a genuinely brilliant piece of independent cinema.  

Amores Perros

An ex-girlfriend bought this for me and it stayed unwatched for a while but I really dug it when I got round to looking at it. I don’t have a lot of time for these post-Pulp Fiction rip-offs etc. but this is a film that stands toe-to-toe with that Tarantino masterpiece and doesn’t have any reason to back down. It’s a fantastically realised, gritty piece of world cinema that is every bit as masterful and great as you’ve heard it to be.  

Apollo 13

There’s a lot of Ron Howard’s work that I find over-rated before he’s even finished shooting the friggin’ film – such is the way Hollywood seems to treat him as royalty. This, though, is a film in which he deserves every single bit of acclaim and more. A taut, involving, emotional and thoroughly gruelling docu-drama that tells the story of the ill-fated space flight in a compelling manner that uses special effects, archive material and documentary evidence in the most beautifully realised of ways.  

The Assassination of Richard Nixon

A searing and intense performance piece that will put you on the edge of your seat from the start to the finish, with another stunning delivery of sublime acting from our greatest living actor – Sean Penn – in this thrilling, low-wattage drama about a disaffected American and his thirst to be known and remembered for something. Comparisons to Taxi Driver are inevitable but unfair, in this – one of the truly great films of the last five years!  

Auto Focus

One of Paul Schrader’s best films as a director and a textbook example of how these “biopics” should be made from now on. It’s excellently realised and has some truly stunning performances across the board from actors usually more commonly known for their mediocrity (special mention to Greg Kinnear and Mrs Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson). Who wants to see diluted stuff on characters with a little bit of dirt (Ray Charles, Johnny Cash etc.) when you can wallow in the seedy, murky stuff of someone as truly debauched as the bloke from Hogan’s Heroes? Under-seen but very much worthy of your full attention!  

Batman Begins

The greatest comic book movie adaptation ever made, in my humble opinion. A stunning, intelligent and fantastically well-made hybrid of a revenge, conspiracy, super-hero action, fantasy drama. There was nothing in this world that could have suggested that this film would have been as flawless as it was. It’s a comic-book movie for people who hate comic-book movies and the presence of such a high-calibre cast of talented actors goes someway to exemplify the quality it possesses. Role on The Dark Knight!  

Beautiful Girls

You may have heard of it but chances are it’s not held within your DVD collection like it should be. A touching, funny, smart and well-realised screenplay by Scott Rosenberg is given light yet committed direction by the late Ted Demme in this tale of big “boys” in a small town, coming to understand the importance of love, commitment, growing up and the harsh realities of the big band world during the course of the weekend of their high school reunion. A cast of Hollywood’s best, (then) young character actors work wonders and the film is a slice of solid gold from start to finish as a result. The mere sight of it on my DVD shelf just makes me start humming “Sweet Caroline” by Neil Diamond.   

Black Hawk Down

Wrongly and unfairly dismissed as “propaganda” in it’s initial 9-11 era release, this is another example of why Ridley Scott can quite rightly be regarded as one of the best visual directors in cinema today. This is a fantastically realised, intense, no-holds-barred piece of war cinema that stares down the opening act of Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and creates an entire two hour running time around in the same vein. Throwing away such “trivial” things as the importance of characters to care about, good acting, strong dialogue etc. the film instead throws us head-first into a brutal, modern fire-fight and leaves alone in the experience. A genuinely tremendous piece of filmmaking and one of the best modern warfare movies ever made! 

Boogie Nights

What more needs to be said about Paul Anderson’s “difficult second movie”? One of the best movies of the 90s is now slowly adapting itself into one of the best films of the last twenty to thirty years! It’s ensemble cast has yet to be bettered, althoughAnderson’s own Magnolia runs a close second. It’s one of the only few movies I’m aware of with a bearable performance from Mark Whalberg AND there is no film of the last twenty years that has made better use of music in tandem with visuals, performance and story-beats then this. A marvellous, unique and awe-inspiring piece of filmmaking!

Borat

As over-hyped as it may well be, you cannot get away from the fact that of all the comedies of the last few years, this has got the highest laugh to running time ratio. It’s brilliantly realised, exceptionally clever and – let’s cut through the crap – just very, very, very funny stuff indeed. They’re going to milk this (it’s inevitable!) but nothing can take away from this film’s original brilliance. Forget all the accusations about dubious editing practises and staged incidents etc. Try to look past the aching cruelty of the scenes inside the Jewish-ran Bed & Breakfast and just simply enjoy one of the most consistently hilarious films of our generation!  

The Bourne Identity

Say what you like but no one expected this film to be good, let alone as truly fantastic as what it was. I love a good espionage movie but they seem to be so thin on the ground and so haphazardly put together of late that you find yourself surviving on repeated viewings of From Russia With Love and the like. Then this came along, turned Matt Damon into the sort of guy you wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley after years of wanting to kick sand in his face, gave us a CGI-less stunning car chase for the first time in years and delivered an intelligent, edge-of-the-seat piece of adult cinema and reignited the modern thriller genre as we know it!  

The Bourne Supremacy

The Godfather Part II of spy movies! A film that, just by it’s sheer existence, makes the first film look and feel better; just like any good sequel should. At the same time it is a faster, more brutal, more searing and more assured/confident piece of filmmaking whilst also complimenting the original at the same time. It also made Hollywood sit right up and take notice of the wondrous talents of Paul Greengrass, as a director, once and for all. On a different level, it also made grown-men around the world all start to daydream about one day rolling up a magazine at their place of work and beating their managers to death with it a la Jason Bourne.  

The Bourne Ultimatum

Like me, did you think they were going to drop the ball on this one? Did you think that the first two entries were so achingly perfect in their execution that the third had to disappoint in some manner because you were so used to never seeing a pitch-perfect trilogy in modern cinema anymore? How much of a surprise for you was this then? Not only was the Waterloo Station sequence one of the best of the year but the film itself is undoubtedly one of the best of the year too. Check out my full review by clicking here!  

Boyz in the Hood

You know what? Thanks to the likes of Baby Boy or whatever it was called, and the sequel to The Fast & The Furious and his producer credits on some genuinely diabolical “black” straight-to-DVD projects, you kind of forget what a searing talent John Singleton is and just how effective and involving his debut movie is. You look at this now, specifically at the likes of Ice Cube and Cuba Gooding Jnr., and you just know that these were guys who burnt-up everything they had in this film and left themselves and their careers with nothing. Time may have passed but it hasn’t done anything to diminish the power of this film. Don’t write it off. It really is one of the best films of the 90s.  

Brokeback Mountain

To put it simply, I really, really wanted to hate this film but I just couldn’t. There’s nothing in it that would suggest it’s my normal type of movie and I’ve been burnt by Ang Lee more times then I’ve been delighted, plus the whole “gay cowboy” thing doesn’t make my dick hard, so to speak, (if you know what I mean?). But there is no getting around the fact that, thanks to the performances of Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, this is a committed, painful and nothing short of beautiful piece of cinema. It’s an unconventional romantic drama that actually makes you feel as if you’ve acquired some life-lessons from it by the time the end credits roll.  

Casino

Not ‘Goodfellas 2’ as many labelled it; this is thorough, professional and top of the line filmmaking by one of cinema’s greatest directors. It is an enthralling, interesting and completely engrossing experience from its explosive (literally!) opening through to its cold final image. This is a film with a complete smorgasbord of truly excellent performances, from the ones you’d expect like Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci and James Woods through to the startlingly surprises like Sharon Stone. It’s not only one of the greatest films of its decade, but its flawless filmmaking at the same time!   

Children of Men

My hatred for Clive Owen ran so deep that I purposefully avoided this film. In the face of fantastic word of mouth, great reviews and the like, I stayed completely clear. I’d gone this far in life without attacking a cinema screen, I didn’t want to let myself down. I caught up with this (stupidly) on DVD and the first thing I thought was “Man, I wish I’d seen this on the big screen!” It is, to put it simply, THE greatest film of the last five years (to think, it didn’t even rank in my annual top twenty as well!). It’s filmmaking of an extremely high standard, with some truly stunning visuals and set-pieces. At its core is a thoroughly well-realised ‘adjustment’ to what is essentially the standard man-on-the-run/cat-and-mouse thriller. Believe everything you’ve heard, this is film is that good – and probably a bit more too!  

City of God

Inventive, involving, intelligent, inspiring! This film has got everything. It’s THE film for people who don’t like world cinema. It will make you laugh, it will put you on the edge of your seat and it will scare the hell out of you. It is sublime filmmaking whereby a cast of multiple amateurs set the screen alight and never fail to engage you in their multiple stories in a clear, concise and convincing manner. You’d think you’d be confused at the goings on, you think you’d lose track or something but instead you are nothing but engrossed from start to finish! A masterpiece! 

City Slickers

There’s a couple of “controversial titles” coming up in the next couple of reviews with this being the start of them. I don’t care what anyone says, films can be modern classics of their genre not necessarily of all time or whatever, and this is a film that is very much a classic of its genre. It’s beautifully written, superbly performed across the board (Bruno Kirby nails this film for me!) and is a genuine, first-rate joy to be beholden to. Its humour is soaked in the reality of the male mid-life crisis, its set-pieces go for the heart rather than the easy laugh and it’s quite probably one of the greatest feel-good movies I’ve ever seen!  

Copland

A severely under-rated, cerebral modern western with a stellar cast and a cold but nothing less than magnetic sense of style. This is the film that I pull out the bag to suggest to people that Stallone is an actor of real weight and potential, who just got sidetracked by Rocky and Rambo sequels and stupid action projects. He’s got the shit to be able to throw stuff out there and go toe to toe with the likes of Brando and De Niro. People laugh in my face and tell me I’m mad but you look at his work in the first Rocky or First Blood or this movie. That’s a serious, searing talent right there! There’s genuinely not a weak performance in this film and Stallone leads the charge on this. It’s a first-rate, tension-soaked thriller that demands better recognition!  

The Departed

This had no right to be as friggin’ brilliant as it did huh? Then again, it’s Martin Scorsese. You just knew he wasn’t going to bring us nothing else then a complete elevation of the thriller genre as a whole, through this film, before a single frame had been shot. But think about it, a remake of a cracking little Asian film that didn’t need remade in the first place, becomes a sublime piece of modern cinema with a cast (Matt Damon, Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Martin Sheen, Alec Baldwin, a surprisingly effective Mark Whalberg and Ray Winstone to name but a few) to absolutely die for. A bitingly cool film from its first frame to its last – and any film that has ‘Shipping Off To Boston’ and ‘Comfortably Numb’ on the soundtrack is a first rate modern classic straight away!  

Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story

Screw you guys, I friggin’ love this film and think it is an absolutely exquisite piece of modern comedy in that grand tradition of big, pantomime style, screwball comedy with huge cartoon-style characters and insanely stupid but nevertheless hilarious gags. The laugh to running time ratio is massive and it does nothing other then deliver, superbly well, exactly what it says on the tin. A modern classic of the comedy genre that, just because it goes for the consistently stupid approach, doesn’t mean that it doesn’t deserve to be mentioned in the same vein as the likes of Dumb & Dumber, The Forty Year Old Virgin, Little Miss Sunshine, Knocked Up, Groundhog Day, Rushmore and Waiting For Guffman.  

Edward Scissorhands

For me, this is probably my favourite Tim Burton film. I know there are people that go crazy for Ed Wood, but in my eyes this is it. A beautifully staged, wonderfully performed, perfectly realised modern fairy-tale for our times that will make you laugh and cry in equal measures. Hell, even Winona Ryder manages to get away without me taking a proverbial dump on her through this film and if that happens then you know the film must be good! 

Election

There are not a lot of Reese Witherspoon movies that I can tolerate. This is a definite exception. Matthew Broderick is absolutely fantastic in this film. It’s probably his second greatest role ever (we can’t forget Ferris Bueller can we?) and the movie itself is this consistently hilarious, biting, masked satire with tinges of screwball comedy greatness laced throughout. Alexander Payne would go on to blow his own film out of the water a few years later with Sideways but this is, for me, one of the best films of the 90s and a genuine joy to watch! 

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

I really despised this film when I first saw it. I thought it was a complete sack of over-hyped, over-praised, self-indulgent rubbish. Then I ended up renting it with a girl I was seeing at the time, warning her that it was really shit, and it turned out that I really dug it on second viewing and she really hated it on her first. As an experiment, I asked her to watch it again and she came back saying “You know what? It grows on you!” I watched it again, and again, and again. Before I knew it I was head over heels in love with this flick – and I can’t stand Kirsten Dunst or Kate Winslet – so that must go some way to explaining how great it is? 

A Few Good Men

One of my favourite modern screenplays, one of the only bearable Demi Moore movies I know and one of the best courtroom dramas the genre has ever seen. This is intelligent, dramatic, engrossing theatre for the screen with a stellar cast (Tom Cruise, Kevin Pollack, Demi Moore, Jack Nicholson, Kiefer Sutherland, Kevin Bacon, James Marshall, Christopher Guest, Cuba Gooding Jnr, JT Walsh and that’s just a quarter of the cast!) and a magnetic sense of involvement that the drama genre hasn’t really bettered since. A fantastic film with a climax that the echelons of pop culture may have used and abused but they haven’t weakened it. Everybody? “You can’t handle the truth!” 

Friday Night Lights

There’s always something a little amiss here in the UK whereby the minute a successful American film with ‘football’ (as the Yanks call it!) at its core is due to get released, it normally gets thrown around the schedule, then given a fucked up release or even just rushed straight to DVD. This critically acclaimed modern masterpiece from director Peter Berg was no different. It’s a majestic, edge-of-the-seat anti-sports-movie that takes amateur level performances and turns them into Oscar contenders from the entire cast. This is a brilliant, brilliant film that was under-seen and under-appreciated here in the UK unfortunately!  

Forrest Gump

The film may have its haters but I’ve got a huge amount of time for it. I think it’s too easy to get distracted by the whole “this should never have beaten Pulp Fiction at the Oscars” thing, and The Shawshank Redemption is the stronger movie, but that doesn’t stop this being a majestic, beautifully shot film with some extremely stellar performances (Tom Hanks IS very good in this film, as is Gary Sinese, don’t believe the bad-mouthing!) and a perfect meld of special effects and story. It very much deserves a mention when discussing the “classic” films of the 90s.  

The Forty-Year Old Virgin

Far, far, far too easily dismissed as “just another gross-out comedy” or whatever, this is a sublimely performed film, a touchingly written and commendably well-shot injection of originality into the stale romantic comedy genre, with one of the best supporting casts in modern comedy history. There’s not one wrong step from start to finish, which – for me – is amazing considering it takes the ‘comedy movie’ past its dreaded ninety-minute mark by a mile. This is the closest we’re going to get to seeing a modern Billy Wilder movie now that Cameron Crowe has completely disappeared up his own back-side.  

From Dusk Till Dawn

Controversial for its inclusion? I do seem to defend this film’s presence in this subsection a great deal more than most other films – even Dodgeball. The fact is, though, that in terms of the genre this stands within then this film is an absolute peach of a movie experience. It’s a fast-paced, perfectly judged hybrid of horror-and-comedy with a superb two-act switch-around (heist/criminals on the run flick into marauding vampires/fight to survive film) that many a movie has tried to ape, but none have been able to even equal. This is a genuinely great piece of horror and comedy, a Big Trouble in Little China (if you will) for modern audiences! 

Glengarry Glen Ross

David Mamet’s screenplay, Alec Baldwin’s infamous cameo, a cast that includes Jonathan Pryce, Al Pacino, Ed Harris, Kevin Spacey and the absolutely fantastic Jack Lemmon in a film devoid of action, thrills, horror, romance and the like but will still push you deep into your seat and hold you there, enthralled, with nothing but character and dialogue. Quite simply one of the greatest, if not the greatest, pieces of character cinema in our modern times!  

Goodfellas

One of the ten truly great films of our time, I shit you not! I could rave on and on about this film till the cows come home but all I’ll say is this; forget the fresh spin on narrative voice-overs, forget the majestic stedicam shot that has entered the annals of cinema history and forget the flawless performances from background extras all the way to the top of the head-liners – watch the sequence in which Scorsese reveals the execution of the men involved in the airport heist, on the orders of De Niro’s Jimmy Conway, set to the crescendo from Eric Clapton’s ‘Layla’ and you have one of the best pieces of music-and-image amalgamations that you’ll ever see! Every single person on the planet should own this film!   

Goodnight and Good Luck

George Clooney has delivered a relevant, intelligent “period” movie that plays superbly for our modern times and, alongside Raging Bull, stands as one of the most exceptionally beautiful black and white movies of the last thirty odd years. The performances are note-perfect across the board and this is the film to make you walk away and ask questions or enter into discussions like a truly great film should!  

Good Will Hunting

This film may have it’s haters but I adore it and think it is positively perfect from start to finish. I’m not that big a fan of Gus Van Sant as a director but even I can acknowledge that he’s delivered a modern masterpiece here! You know whether you can recognise this film for its greatness or not when you see Robin Williams, richly deserving of his Academy Award win for Best Supporting Actor, and Matt Damon deliver the “It’s not your fault!” scene. If it doesn’t chip your heart strings a little then this film isn’t for you, otherwise sit back and watch this film in all it’s truly mesmerising glory! And all hail me, for getting through this without raving on about Damon and Affleck’s astoundingly good screenplay!  

Grizzly Man

One of my favourite documentaries – I’ve seen it a good few times now and, because of Werner Herzog’s reputation for “fake documentaries played for real”, it took me a long time to really acknowledge that this was all “for real”. I mean, I believed that it happened and there was this guy because the power of google and a bit of spare time will reveal it to be so, but I honestly thought Herzog had gone out and refilmed the whole tragic journey with an actor because I thought the guy was just a living, infuriating “cartoon” from what I saw on camera. Now? I totally buy it and it breaks my heart. The decision to keep his on-camera death by mauling completely off-camera was one of the bravest, most integrity-driven decisions that actually sends this film into another majestic area of acclaim it would probably never have entered had we seen the bear attack. A brilliant documentary, every bit as fantastic as you’ve heard it to be!  

Grosse Pointe Blank

One of my favourite films of the 90s and probably equal to Say Anything in being the best John Cusack movie to see. This is a perfectly judged mixture of action, comedy, retro soundtrack and performance – only with intelligent humour, pitch-black action played for straight (the school hallway dust-up should rightly be considered as one of the best onscreen fights of all time and the death-by-TV is such brilliant!) and superb performances from Cusack, Minnie Driver, Alan Arkin, Dan Akroyd, Joan Cusack and the ever-excellent Jeremy Piven. This is a must-own movie for intelligent, committed film fans everywhere!  

Groundhog Day

One of the top ten greatest comedies ever made! I shit you not! Definitely in the top five best Bill Murray performances, anyway! A clever, unique, rather mythical and thoroughly entertaining, hugely feel-good comedy that deserves to be held up as a timeless piece of cinema alongside the likes of Its a Wonderful Life. Harold Ramis may never have directed a project as good as this again and this may be cannon-fodder to use in a pub argument when someone suggests Andie McDowell has never made a good film, but it is a film that you just have to see – again, and again and again and again. Sorry, I couldn’t resist!  

High Fidelity

One of my favourite romantic comedies of all time, adapted from one of my favourite novels in such a way that my initial feelings of this being a hugely terrible idea, eventually transcended into realising that this is just absolutely fantastic on every level. It’s another cracking John Cusack movie made with all the same love, care and attention afforded to Grosse Pointe Blank. As a result you have another exceptional soundtrack, another round of first class humour, some genuinely touching moments of romantic eloquence and a really rather sublime ensemble cast of actors. For anyone, like myself, who has gone through a bad break-up or is hurting their way through a relationship they know is wrong but they want to be right so badly if only to avoid hurting the other person, then this film is most definitely for you!  

Hoop Dreams

My all time favourite documentary feature! And I know I’m not alone! It’s got everything you could possibly need out of a viewing experience – and more too! You need to see this before you die, I swear. This is documentary filmmaking, committed and passionate documentary filmmaking, at the top of its game. The kind that makes you look at Michael Moore and his efforts and realise he is the Uwe Boll of documentary filmmaking in comparison!  

In the Name of the Father

Okay so years on we don’t know how much of the truth has been fudged, how much has been glossed over to make our protagonists more palatable or how much is just a complete white-wash. So, forget about this as a piece of docu-drama in the vein of something like United 93 etc. and just enjoy it for what it is; intelligent, well-made, edge-of-the-seat drama of the type that doesn’t seem to be around as much as we’d like in cinemas anymore. Furthermore, it’s got Daniel Day Lewis and Pete Postlewaite acting their friggin’ socks off! This is a genuinely brilliant film!  

Jackie Brown

In my humble opinion, Quentin Tarantino’s most under-rated (i.e. not treat like it’s the “second coming of cinematic perfection”) movie is actually his best. A surprisingly light, romantic ‘caper’ movie with truly startlingly perfect turns from (then) forgotten icons of the 70s and 80s B-movie era, Pam Grier and Robert Forster. The script is less arrogant and showy then the normal Tarantino piece and the supporting performances, from Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton, are exquisite. Best of all though, the directorial reigns show a man capable of great maturity in filmmaking that he’s rarely shown since.   

Jerry Maguire

This should have got Tom Cruise an Oscar. It really should have. It shouldn’t have got Cuba Gooding Jnr an Oscar though. It really shouldn’t have. This is a truly great, inspiring, exceptionally well-written character piece, one of the best of our age, channelling the work and mind-set of the late Billy Wilder like the film’s live depended on it. Everyone keeps commenting on how “sugary” and “soppy” the film is, but go back and watch it again. It’s not like that at all. Think how much worse it could have been? The moments of “soppiness” or whatever, are very much earned and somewhat required in what is basically a very well-judged dark piece about a man looking inside of himself and not liking what he’s seeing, but not really knowing whether he has the inner-strength to change.  

Jurassic Park

The by-word in modern blockbuster cinema. You cannot make a list of the top five greatest modern classics in the ‘blockbuster’ subgenre without including this film. It’s the brother of Jaws, another Spielberg masterpiece. It is mainstream, glossy adventure cinema made to order and absolutely perfectly handled by a director so assured and confident in what he is doing. Even the occasional teetering misstep (the too long of an opening act, the disappointingly twee finale) are off-set by set-pieces so wonderful, so iconic, so fantastic to watch that they turn the imperfections around, camouflage them and turn the movie into a genuine modern great. Peter Jackson’s King Kong remake wanted to be this movie so bad that it was almost embarrassing to watch. Kevin Costner and Sean Connery must be fucking kicking themselves, and their agents heads in, for turning this film down!  

Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang

For the full review just click here!  

Knocked Up

Come on, it’s inevitable for you not to have figured out my feelings about this flick by now huh? If you’re one of the two percenters who aren’t aware then you can check out my theatrical review here or my review of the Region 1 DVD here. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for Part II – coming soon (it seems too risky to suggest it may arrive within a week with how my life is turning out these days!).

Related Posts:

• OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 35: MODERN CLASSICS (Part Two)
• OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 17: NEAR PERFECTION (Part One)
• OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 36: VINTAGE MASTERPIECES (Part One)
• OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 20: GUILTY PLEASURES (Part One)
• OFF THE SHELF - Issue # 18: NEAR PERFECTION (Part Two)

Posted on Tuesday, November 13th, 2007 at 3:22 pm under Off The Shelf by Gazz.
Tags:Off The Shelf

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