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The Sting (1973)
The Sting is a better all round film than almost everything I've ever seen. At times it even borders on perfect.
I recently bumped The Sting into my top 4 films of all time, so this was more of a confirmation watch than anything. I know, but when a film is as good as The Sting, you actually don't need a reason to watch it.
It's interesting that of the two Redford-Newman films, it has pretty much always been Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid that gets most of the attention. Yet for me, The Sting is clearly a better all round film. Then again, it's a better all round film than almost everything I've ever seen. At times it even borders on perfect. The sets, the costume design, the music, the pacing, the sub-plots - everything in this film is so good and absolutely everything in it seems to matter.
The Sting is one of those films that has its one or two iconic and widely remembered scenes, but it's also one of those films that has about 15 or 16 other scenes that could easily be remembered as such. They would be - in a lesser film.
There is absolutely nothing wasted in this film. Not every scene necessarily matters, as such, but it's as close as you will get in any film. Even the seemingly less intriguing scenes have something in them that will leave you guessing, especially when Paul Newman and Robert Redford's gang starts to put together its plans. Glances are cast, facial expressions change, and quite often the most important parts of this film are where no dialogue is spoken at all.
You can only imagine just how meticulously George Roy Hill directed the film. Quite aside from the intricacies in every scene, you then have the amazing attention to detail that goes into the set design, the wonderful costumes and trying to give the film an authentic 1930s Chicago feel. All this is helped by Marvin Hamlisch's score. Hamlisch was 29 when he did the music for The Sting.
I think the performances of Newman, Redford and the dominating Robert Shaw have been given exactly the level of attention they deserve - all three of them are exceptional here, but what a great supporting cast they get to work with. Charles Durning has always been a favourite of mine and here, as corrupt bunco cop Snyder, he pops up when you least expect it, trying and failing on several occasions to collar Redford. He has always been great value in this kind of role, but never more so than here.
Charles Dierkop's craggy faced and almost silent performance as Shaw's bodyguard is just about perfect as well, but my personal favourite is Harold Gould's dapper conman Kid Twist. Gould spent almost all of his career guest starring in almost every US TV series that you can think of but on the basis of this performance, you are left wondering if bigger and better things should have lay ahead of him.
What's most astonishing about The Sting is that I haven't a sodding clue about how to play poker - and yet that scene on the train still had me completely transfixed and on the edge of my seat. There are many other astonishing things about this film, though, and I wouldn't have any hesitation in recommending it to anyone, no matter what your mood. It's absolutely brilliant.
65 (2023)
We're here for Adam Driver shooting dinosaurs and bonding with a kid. Proceed.
You can see why filmmakers and studios seem reluctant to make a good old-fashioned 90 minute action film these days.
The response to 65 was quite depressing to those of us who pine for blockbusters to go back to being that length. A predictable box office disappointment, a total dearth of positive reviews. It seems that we *can* have nice things but they have to be half an hour longer than 65. At least.
Look, I'm not asking for *all* the films to be this short, that would be unreasonable. But also nice. John Wick: Chapter 4 is nearly three hours long and I can't wait to see it. The more John Wick, the better. I hope the next Mission: Impossible film is 18 decades long. But some things clearly do need to shake hands with brevity and this is one of those cases.
There are those that have questioned why it's so short. We've been so starved of films where we have time to do other things with our days before and after that we're suspicious when something like this comes along. I didn't notice any huge gaps in proceedings here. It tells us what little we need to know and gets on with it. We're here for Adam Driver shooting dinosaurs and bonding with a kid. Proceed.
It stops off at the moments of expected trauma and character interactions, that much was to be expected. But there are plenty of moments of solid action and danger, nothing at all mindblowing but absolutely enough to make for a good time. Then it just ends and that's the end of that. Thank you very much, that's exactly what I left the flat for. And thank you Adam for gracing something that you're quite clearly too good for, much appreciated.
Polite Society (2023)
British cinema appears to be in good hands even if the country isn't.
Nida Manzoor becomes the latest extremely exciting voice to have emerged in the last five years with a head-turning debut that also introduces us to sparkling young acting talent being handed opportunities that they may never have got from previous generations. Quite noticeable, too, that many of these filmmakers have been female.
I recognised Manzoor not, like most people would, from the award-winning TV series We Are Lady Parts (I'm rather behind with TV as usual) but from the manic short film 7.2. Unsurprising to see Manzoor mining a couple of ideas from that short for Polite Society, with more humorous and inventive fight and action scenes as well as its amusingly strange plot.
Manzoor takes her time getting to the plot point here and maybe even takes a gamble in doing so. The longer you string it out, the more you run the risk of your audience going, "That's it?!" But the revelation here is so daft that Manzoor is showing her hand quite clearly in terms of what everybody should be focusing on, and that is her wonderful cast and her charming style.
The 'episode' titling and naming of characters before fights thing has been done before but is done so here with a genuine affection for everything similar that's gone before. Priya Kansara is understandably getting mad attention for her lead performance here and rightly so. I actually thought her mannerisms during the locker room disguise scene was the funniest thing here and I laughed my head off but as an action star she's clearly got it made.
Singling her out is unfair on the rest of the cast here, all of whom play a significant part in making this constantly enjoyable and fun. It's not exactly heavy on substance even if it is culturally interesting and representative, but does it need to be? No, not really. I also kind of love films where siblings love each other unconditionally and get sad when things go wrong for each other, too.
I hope everyone involved in this goes on to be huge. They all deserve it, to a person.
Street Fighter (1994)
A masterpiece of ironic cinema.
I've seen this a good seventy times... Don't you dare judge me.
I really, honestly love this movie. It exists in some strange cinematic nirvana of Ham and Cheese that is almost unparalleled. Raul Julia's performance as M. Bison is possibly one of the greatest over the top villain performances ever put to film, as he completely dominates any and every scene he's in, gleefully chewing every piece of scenery and heaping so much cheese on the role, that William Shatner would be shocked. And it works perfectly with the rest of the film, which is so obviously tongue in cheek and playing up the sheer absurdism of the plot.
In some ways, it was almost ahead of it's time, becoming this meta parody of almost every action movie trope by playing them entirely straight the whole time, without ever dialing down the absurdity or trying to be 'grounded'. Instead, it looks you right in the face, smiles like a crazed maniac, and says "I'm not gonna take any of this seriously, and neither should you"
Of course, that doesn't mean that Jean-Claude Van Damme is as good as Raul Julia. But even with his comically and deliciously stilted and forced delivery, there's this keen sense of self-awareness and self-parody. It all amounts to something that is glorious, and simply one of the most enjoyably dumb films ever made.
And given that this was written and directed by the guy who wrote such iconic action flicks as Commando and Die Hard, both of which are considered 'serious' action movies, it further supports the theory that this was a parody film that had an almost Andy Kaufman level dedication to what it was parodying: over the top action flicks with stupid plots, expressly by BEING the ultimate over the top action flick with a stupid plot.
I know it sounds absurd to do so, but because of the sheer enjoyment factor of this film, I have to give it 5 stars on just the sheer enjoyment. Sure, from a cold, purely cerebral standpoint the film doesn't work as a proper action film (it simply refuses to make even the least bit of sense), but from a pure popcorn flick to watch and just enjoy for the sake of enjoyment, it's a masterpiece of ironic cinema.
The Parent Trap (1998)
So much fun
Those little redhead girls committed fraud using the English one's passport and I wont stop until they are punished...
I'll never see this movie way TOO many times. The soundtrack, Lindsey Lohan, Oreos with peanut butter, Dennis Quaid AND Natasha Richardson(?!?), extremely questionable parenting choices, a kick-ass handshake, and one of the best end scenes to a romance film ever. That's right. A masterpiece.
Endlessly delightful by way of a revolving door of comedic set-ups, satisfying punchlines and kinetic performances and set pieces that rival all of the classics. It has that proper cozy, broken-in feeling of a comfort movie.
Kaizoku Sentai Ten Gôkaijâ (2021)
The Sexy Space Pirates Return
Ten Gokaiger Is a massive love letter to Gokaiger and exceeded all expectations yet again. And it brought back ALL the feels from when I first watched Gokaiger back in 2011.
I've freaking missed these guys. You can tell the cast and crew had a blast with this project and it shows. So great to see them all together again. I loved all the references and callbacks and seeing the whole movie go off in their usual style just brings me to tears of joy.