Five Great Movie Dads

Atticus Finch (Gregory Peck) – To Kill a Mockingbird

Arguably the greatest on screen Dad ever, Atticus is a man who believes in the word of the law and is willing to defend an innocent black man on trumped up charges, for this his is willing to incur the wrath of the hostile town folk. Meanwhile he’s trying to raise his children single handed and set a positive example for them- through his compassionate actions and his campaigning for justice, Atticus is a father than any child would be proud to call their own, the scene as he exits the courtroom to the respect of African-American town members, you can feel the pride beaming from his daughters face.

Guiseppe Conlon (Pete Postlethwaite)- In the Name of the Father:

Wrongly imprisoned along with his son Gerry (Daniel Day-Lewis) for being one of the alleged Guildford Four bombers, Guiseppe is the very definition of hard working and he is forever appealing for their innocence to be heard despite fighting a terminal illness. Althroughout Gerry scoffs at his wise advise due to his free spirited nature, but before long he begins to realize just how much the old man has sacrificed for him and begins to pick up the fight himself. Guiseppe is the kind of world weary father we can all relate to having and one that we should always listen to because their words may guide us away from trouble.

Henry Jones Sr (Sean Connery) – Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade: 

Ok, as a young man, Indiana Jones probably didn’t have it easy with Henry Jones Sr due to his reclusive nature and his obsession with the Holy Grail. But you would be hard pressed to find a father you finds a more exciting adventure for father and son than this man! But upon reflection- Indy learns whats a good father Henry was when he says “Did I ever tell you to eat up, go to bed, wash your ears, do your homework? No, I respected your privacy and I taught you self reliance.” In Last Crusade, the two men are continually at odds with each other, but underneath the competition lies a deep and binding love. Just watch the relief and joy on Henry’s face when he sees his son alive.

Vito Corleone (Marlon Brando) – The Godfather

A fierce believer in the notion of loyalty and the family, Vito Corleone will go to great lengths to ensure the safety of his own family. In business, there is no length to which he will not sink to get what he wants- cue the horse’s head in the producers bed! But although he has blood on his hands from past events, Vito is unwilling to allow his son Michael (Al Pacino) to get involved in his world and yearns for him to break free and become honest. When his son finally kills for the family, his devastation goes all the way to the core. Though compared to his old man, Michael becomes a great deal worse!

George Bailey (James Stewart) – It’s A Wonderful Life

Forever putting his happiness before others, George Bailey to see his family survive has given up many chances for fortune and glory. But despite having a loving family and many equally caring community members, George still wishes they had never existed and that his family would be better off without him! But when George sees what his life would be without his wife or kids, his desire to get them back again is powerful and the finale scene where they reunite is the perfect example of just how far his love for his children goes and his relief at having a chance to see them grow- despite his mid film rant denouncing them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2013: A Year in Review

Its been another fabulous year of film goodness as we saw the return of Tony Stark in Iron Man 3, had robots punching aliens in Pacific Rim and tragically we discovered that Baz Luhrmann’s version of The Great Gatsby fell tragically short of what its excellent trailer campaign promised! Also we saw the tragic passing of screen legend Peter O’Toole and James Gandofini.

But without further delay, here are my film highlights of 2013

Top 10 Films of 2013

1. Rush (USA/UK Dir: Ron Howard): Formula One fans all over world rejoiced with this movie and Ron Howard’s biopic of the thrilling 1976 F1 season gave us one of the great Motorsport films in recent memory! The legendary rivalry between Niki Lauda and James Hunt and was brought fantastically to life through excellent performances by Daniel Bruhl and Chris Hemsworth who each personified the men and their competitive spirit. With Ron Howard’s stunning direction we were given this years most heartfelt and pulse raising film.

2. Blue is the Warmest Color (FR Dir: Abellatif Kechiche): After winning the Palme D’or at Cannes, the public curiosity was instantly raised and French director Adellatif Kechiche’s look at the relationship of lesbian couple Adele and Emma gave us this years greatest love story and perfectly captured the ups and downs of finding the perfect person! This movie may have made headlines for its graphic sexual content, but its powerful emotional core remains its most unforgettable element and with a star making turns from Adele Exarchopoulos and Lea Seydoux, this a film that will shatter your heart!

3. Gravity (USA Dir: Alfonso Cuaron): Gravity may be topping almost every Best Film List on the planet right now, but it will have to settle for being number 3 on mine. But Alfonso Cuaron’s space disaster movie is still a film not to be missed and the tension level is continually set to chest tightening and the end result with stay with you long after the end credits. Sandra Bullock rings in a stunning central turn and as we view her face frozen with fear whilst drifting in space your blood is guaranteed to freeze in your veins!

4. Captain Phillips (UK/USA Dir: Paul Greengrass): The return of Paul Greengrass to the big screen shot was an event to remember and his film based on the hijacking of the Maersk Alabama by Somali pirates was an absolutely griping affair and was aided by an Oscar assured performance by Tom Hanks as Richard Phillips. The continuous game of psychological cat and mouse between Phillips and lead pirate Muse (Barkhad Abdi) added fantastic tension to events, particular the latter stages and delivered one of the real cinematic heroes of 2013!

5. Zero Dark Thirty (USA Dir: Kathryn Bigelow): The hunt for Osama Bin Laden  was another home run movie for Kathryn Bigelow and we witness the long and sometimes pain filled journey, it was hard to tear our eyes away. Jessica Chastain’s performance as fiercely committed CIA agent Maya was the driving force of the movie and she holds the screen with tremendous ferorcity! The climax hunt for their main target brought us one of the most electrifying sequences of this year and like the result of Bigalow’s film it keeps our eyes wide open.

6. Stoker (KR/USA) Dir : Park Chan Wook): Park Chan Wook’s English language debut was one of the most hauntingly beautiful films of this year. His tale of a family secrets and treachery was both captivating and incredibly nerve wracking. Mia Wasikowska gave a breakout turn as curious teen India was mesmerising as after the death of her father she becomes suspicious when her long lost uncle Charlie suddenly shows up. Western audiences waited a long time food Chan Wook to make the transition and it was truly worth the wait!

7. The Impossible (ESP Dir Juan Antonio Bayona): This year it was harder to find a bigger tear jerker than Juan Antonio Bayona’s film about the boxing day Tsunami. As we see a family torn apart by a wave of wreckage we yearn for the majority of the films running time for them to reunite and emotions are set to maximum. With a stunning turn by Naomi Watts and a career best from Ewan McGregor, then result is an affecting yet uplifting piece, but be prepared for this movie to leave emotional scars that won’t heal quickly!

8. A Hijacking (DK Dir: Tobias Lindholm): Somali pirates were one of the hot topics in 2013 and Tobias Lindholm’s documentation of a Danish ship being hijacked made for very chilling viewing. Switching between tense scenes involving the shipping company in Copenhagen and the ship mates held captive as sea, events get increasingly out of control, but it’s the events we cannot see that create the real nerves throughout! watching this together with Captain Phillips may just make your heart explode!

9. Stories We Tell (CAN Dir: Sarah Polley): One of Closer to the Edge’s favourite girls brought us this years finest documentary as she recounted her family history and through the many wonderous stories given, a mind blowing revelation about Polley’s childhood is brought forward- I will say no more here but lest to say, the result will stun you to the core! After watching this I assure you will be dying to research your family, but careful what you find!

10. Blue Jasmine (USA Dir: Woody Allen): A tour de force performance by Cate Blanchett is one of the many reasons to watch this excellent Woody Allen movie. As the former socialite, Blanchett is heart breaking and as a lady trying to rebuild her life after her wealthy husband (Alec Baldwin) is sent to jail. A modern tragedy this film is a unique mixture of immense charm and devastating blows as we grow to both love and hate Jasmine as her past is slowly revealed. A new Woody Allen classic, expect to see this among the Oscar nominee’s this year.

Best of The Rest

Man of Steel: Zack Synder’s Superman movie saw Kal El soar once again and Henry Cavill made for an excellent choice as Clark Kent! With the upcoming Superman/Batman movie, we have a whole new reason to get excited!

The Way, Way Back: One of the more under rated summer movies, Nat Flax and Jim Rash brought us a movie that is impossible to dislike. An outstanding debut performance by Liam James put the impressive cap on this great movie about a very memorable families summer vacation.

Lincoln: Daniel Day-Lewis’s forceful performance as Abraham Lincoln deservedly won him a third best actor award in Steven Spielberg’s magnificent civil war biopic! With an all star cast including Tommy Lee Jones and Sally Field, this one one of the years mosrt acclaimed efforts!

In The House: Francois Ozon’s tale of obsession band lines being firmly crossed was one of the most underrated piece of European cinema this year, with a stand out performance by Fabrice Luchini as a teacher who becomes enthralled over a pupils writings about his friends family, but soon his interest will take both into dangerous places.

Male Star of The Year- Benedict Cumberbatch: After years of being a respected character actor in films such as Atonement and Starter for 10, Cumberbatch finally the big time this year and as villian John Harrison in Star Trek: Into Darkness he made 2013’s greatest villain and as Smaug the Dragon in the new hobbit movie, his voice alone made waves! With the return of Sherlock in 2014, next year promises to a big one for Benedict!

Female Star of The Year- Jessica Chastain: Bold and brilliant in Zero Dark Thirty and the main point of credibility in horror film Mama, Chastain is now firmly placed on the A List and it appears that we have a new superstar in waiting! Chastain has been touted as a talent previously and with her upcoming role as the tragic Miss Julie, we have all the more reason to get excited about this beautiful starlet!

Director of The Year: Sarah Polley: As mentioned previously, Sarah Polley is now firmly among this blogs favourite people and the Toronto native’s devastating documentary Stories We Tell was a simple yet masterful example of directing. Polley’s decision to go behind the camera has been a wise on be, but I hope soon that we see her in front of the camera as well- Watch out Hollywood, we have a new double threat!

Scene of The Year- Opening Sequence: Gravity: Cuaron’s opening scene in his excellent space disaster film was this years most stunning and with its one continuous take is a slow burning affair, but when the moment hits, carnage ensues! Never before has the opening 10 minutes of a movie been so memorable!

Finally I would like wish all my reader a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, and thank you for your continued support of my writing! See you soon!

The American President: Review of Lincoln

Lincoln

Director: Steven Spielberg

By Alex Watson

Feels strange that in the history of cinema- there hasn’t yet been a film that fully documents what a drastic change Abraham Lincoln made to the United States. Yes we have seen him hunting vampires in last year’s god awful affair Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and tagging along with Keanu Reeves in Bill & Teds Excellent Adventure but there has yet to be a true biopic of his life and times. Well then what director is better to bring his story to the screen that another fellow icon- Steven Spielberg! The great man will proceed to show us how one many his controversial idea changed the future of a nation in his movie Lincoln!

The United States Civil War has been dragging on for over four years and many, with North and South still divided over slavery and President Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) is growing weary from the constant strain of affairs and many soldiers have died for the cause. To abolish slavery for good, Lincoln proposes the 13^th Amendment which will end slavery altogether and from the moment it is announced reactions are mixed! But through fierce grit and determination, Lincoln vows to see the bill passed and end the war to save more lives from being taken!

Together Spielberg and Day-Lewis magnificently bring the tale of one of history’s greatest figures to life, Lincoln is a long affair and to some it may seem a lot wordier than it needs to be, but Spielberg nonetheless succeeds in bringing us a story that is truly gripping and he is assisted by a superb script by Tony Kushner which captures Lincoln’s fiery spirit and willpower to achieve the amendment passed, even if it means resorting to drastic means such as threatening and bribing the opposition, one great moment captures his hopes when he roars to his cabinet “I am the United States President clothed in immense power… go out there and procure me those votes!”

Abraham Lincoln is not made out as a martyr figure by Spielberg and in the film his ideas are far from popular and public opinion is split down the middle and as he tells his long tales many roll their eyes in boredom. At the beginning of Lincoln we see him one fields of Gettysburg where a jaded black soldier (David Oyelowo) bitterly recites one of his speeches back to him which emphasises how he has to live up to his words! The Lincoln we see here is more resourceful and isn’t afraid to bend the rules.

But it’s the great team behind the president that provides some of Lincoln’s funnier moments, led by crusty old time speaker Thaddeus Stevens (Tommy Lee Jones) who has the ability to reduce the cocky speakers from the Democratic Party to shreds! Buts it’s the devious backroom trio of James Spader, John Harkes and Tim Blake Nelson who are hired to twist opposition arms into agreeing with bill that tickle the most ribs because they are routinely nearly murdered by prejudiced speakers on numerous occasions! But they make one of the most vital contributions as some their targets will eventually tip the balance!

As Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Day-Lewis is a simply fascinating presence and gives a performance so powerful that you would be a fool to bet against him for Best Actor at the Oscar’s this year! His strength keeps the film on course throughout but it’s his quieter moments that interest most as we see Lincoln almost humanely pondering the cost that has occurred long before the bill is proposed. Day-Lewis is one of the great actors of our generation and we have to conclude Spielberg has made the best choice possible for Lincoln!

Top support is also on offer from Sally Field as his long suffering wife Mary Todd Lincoln- a woman battling illness along with the pain of losing their eldest son years before, Field holds her own against Day-Lewis and brings us some of Lincoln’s most emotionally charged scenes. But it’s perhaps Tommy Lee Jones who steals the supporting honours as straight talking Thaddeus Stevens; his speeches which mockingly execute the opposition will leave us sniggering away in delight!

Lincoln will be among the best films of 2013 and we can safely assume that it will bring Oscar’s galore in this moments ceremony. Spielberg has done an excellent job of telling the story Abraham Lincoln and in doing so has brought us one the great performances in years gone by from Daniel Day-Lewis. Boy’s please get together soon because this is a combination that works!

Black Gold: There Will Be Blood Review

Classic from the Vault

There Will Be Blood (2007)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

By Alex Watson

The films of P.T Anderson are among the most celebrated of modern cinema. From the daring Boogie Nights, to the twisty story-line of Magnolia, to the under-rated Punch, Drunk, Love he has always found new ways to draw the viewers in. When it was announced that he would be undertaking a loose adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel Oil, many wondered where he would take it. What we got was one of the most beautiful, and striking films of the new millennium, his film, There Will Be Blood.

Set in the oil boom era of the 1920’s, the story features a silver prospector- turned- oil baron, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) who continually seeks to buy up drilling land. He is successful, but in the industry is still a minor presence. His luck turns however, when he is approached by Paul Sunday (Paul Dano), to buy information about a large stretch of land in a town called Little Boston. Unknown to the owners there is an ocean of oil underneath! Plainview and his adopted son H.W (Dillon Freasier) travel to Little Boston to swindle the land from the Sunday family. While there, he comes into contact with Eli Sunday (Also Paul Dano), an ambitious preacher and faith healer. Soon a battle of wills ensures as each man fights his own battle for land!

There Will Be Blood is a modern, dark American tail. As Plainview breaks away the earth to make way for his next fortune, we feel that the towns money is being drained dry. Anderson paints a very bleak picture of the old times. In his film we see an America which is owned by Capitalist culture, where each man fought his own territorial battle. Anderson shows this by the battle between Plainview and Eli. There is also a very alpha male feel to the story line. Both main characters feel threatened at the presence of another and throughout the film both men work to squash the power the other has.

The main theme of the movie is corruption. In There Will Be Blood both Plainview and Sunday represent both capitalist and religious corruption. Plainview on the surface plays a well meaning fellow. In his interactions with others, he presents himself as a family businessman, and compels to their nature. Soon they are manipulated ruthlessly! The man is truly, rotten to the core and will step over anyone in order to obtain the land he desires!  Eli’s religious corruption is demonstrated in his speeches to his church. Through these, we observe his shrieking and fiery type of faith and feel his strong hold over them. Eli bullies his flock in accepting his seemingly, unquestionable faith. His desire for a better life is driven by greed, not the faith that he preaches. While Plainview is forthcoming in his greed, Eli hides behind a wall of hypocrisy and is seems unable to accept there is another presence that may make his flock stray!

In this piece, the real driving force is a stunning performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. The man is one of this centuries true greats, and is one of modern cinema’s most memorable turns.  Plainview holds the screen with such force that it is impossible to take our eyes off him! It’s a chilling portrait of a dangerous man, and we learn there is no depth he will sink to. His characterisation is fascinating; does Plainview truly lack any feeling towards others? Or is it all strictly business?

Paul Dano also rings in a commanding supporting role. Eli is a complex character, a man who appears devoted to his cause but in reality seeks the same riches as Plainview. At moments he is a frightening presence, but he is even more fascinating in his quieter moments. In these moments it seems as if Eli is working to win Plainview’s soul! The final scene between Dano and Day Lewis’ is a legend of cinema as the tensions all boil into a climatic showdown! It also brought us the oft quoted line “I… DRINK YOUR…. MILSHAKE! I DRINK IT UP!”

Paul Thomas Anderson proves that he is still one of the most skilled directors of our time. Although his work is infrequent, we always anticipate it highly. There Will Be Blood does nothing to dent our expectations, and we are rewarded with a fascinating piece of American cinema! I longingly await his next film and I can only hope it brings us a performance as strong as Day Lewis’!