A Movie a Day: The Invention of Lying

Wednesday 27 January - THE INVENTION OF LYING (2009)
Ricky Gervais plus the title concept equals so much potential, but I was seriously let down. Such a concept could have and should have been so funny but instead this is a sadly mundane film with an awfully bland feel about about it--something to do with the look of it and particularly its musical score, which made me think I was designing a house in The Sims. As a huge Gervais fan, I tried and tried to like The Invention of Lying, but it was poisoned by that blandness and also clichéd heartfelt speeches.

I skimmed through the movie again today (having watched it last night) and gave it more respect after watching some of the funnier dialogue again, which Gervais delivered with his gift for comic tone and timing. He really did shine in this film (not only comically but emotionally: see scene where his character's Mum dies), so it's a shame everything around him was so far behind. The first time I watched this it barely made me laugh--although I was amused by this alternate world, one without lying, or even tact or euphemism. I'm not advocating anti-Americanism but I imagine The Invention of Lying would be sharper as a British film. 5/10

A Movie a Day: Chop Shop

Tuesday 26 January - CHOP SHOP (2007)
What drew me to this independent film was its not only its critical praise (especially for its 12-year-old star, Alejandro Polanco) but also its setting; a slum in Queens, NYC, because the poorer side of the celebrated city is rarely shown in the media. Anyway, it was a really grim film, about an orphan boy working in an auto-body repair shop (a 'chop shop'), almost living in poverty, saving money for his own food van so he and his sister can run their own business.

This trailer explains a bit more, but it makes the movie look more action-packed than I remember--it was fairly slow-moving. I thought it was a really good movie, though surely my impression was raised by the knowledge it was a small, independent film.. I gotta stop over-thinking my enjoyment of films. Honestly, I was impressed by Chop Shop, the only problem for me being its ending, though I still recommend it. 7.5/10

A Movie a Day: 12 Angry Men

Monday 25 January - 12 ANGRY MEN (1957)
Watched this from the direction recommendation of Sacha, who said I'll like it, and that made me expect to be let down, but he was right, I did like it. 12 Angry Men is about a jury (consisting of the 12 'angry' men) debating the guilt of an 18-year-old boy charged with murdering his father. Save for the characters entering and exiting the jury room at the beginning and end, the entire film takes place within a jury room.

The film's appeal lies in its thought-provoking and outstandingly intelligent dialogue. Only briefly in the film's last moments are any characters' names used, but even more impressive is that the entire film is a discussion about hypothetical events, with the jurors offering theories and persuading one another as personalities collide and egos clash. While the film had a common running length of 96 minutes, I found myself feeling like I'd been watching for hours. This could be good or bad but I see it as good; feeling like I was in that jury room with them, not that it was dragging on but that I was absorbed in it. 8/10

A Movie a Day: Reservoir Dogs

Reservoir Dogs marks 31 consecutive days on which I've watched a movie; a whole month. I'm surprised I managed to keep the streak going this long, originally aiming to watch A Movie a Day for two weeks, so I'm very happy with this milestone. Right now, though, I have no reason or plans to end this project...

Sunday 24 January - RESERVOIR DOGS (1992)
I'm not sure what to make of Quentin Tarantino films. They have cult fame and for a long time I've told myself that they are excellent movies and that I'll love them all. I think the first of his I watched was Kill Bill, which was entertaining, and then last year Inglorious Basterds, which I also liked. A little over a month ago I saw Pulp Fiction, perhaps the highest-praised Tarantino film. However, partly due to that hype and partly due to my cynical wariness of the hype, I was disappointed by the film, perplexed by its bizarre narrative style. This altered my expectations of Reservoir Dogs, but luckily I enjoyed it a lot more than Pulp Fiction.

Like Tarantino's later films, Reservoir Dogs is an unorthodox movie, with the story jumping around within the narrative timeline between characters. My problem with Pulp Fiction was that it pretentiously emphasised its dialogue, which I found to be delivered with an unnatural smoothness. Its plot was fairly compelling, but like I said, it unfolded in a peculiar fashion which didn't sit well with me. A lot of people will argue that's the quality that charactierises Tarantino's work, and I understand it's a deliberately sideways take on cinema, but Pulp Fiction didn't appeal to me. Anyway, enough on that--Reservoir Dogs I enjoyed a lot, being much more straight-forward and resembling the more traditional crime thrillers. The bottom line is that it was a strange movie that I enjoyed more than I had hoped, without embracing it to the extent of cult fans. 7/10

A Movie a Day: The Boat That Rocked

Saturday 23 January - THE BOAT THAT ROCKED (2009)
Really liked the look of this when I saw its trailer about a month ago, but again I was disappointed by the actual movie. Almost everything about this comedy film was actually quite good, but I didn't find it very funny--the most important part. The Boat The Rocked (released as Pirate Radio in the US) is about a fictitious pirate radio station in 1966, broadcast by a crew of disc jockeys on-board the Radio Rock ship anchored off Britain.

One of the film's most appealing traits was its ensemble cast, which included some actors I liked and knew from other works, like Nick Frost (Hot Fuzz, Shawn of the Dead), The IT Crowd's Chris O'Dowd and Katherine Parkinson, and Rhys Darby of Flight of the Conchords fame. I felt the chemistry within the cast was very fluid, natural and heartfelt but some of these guys could have been so much funnier. Of course, the movie was full of great 60s rock and pop music (hence the title's double-meaning, the boat that rocked), and to be fair it was a genuinely warming, entertaining movie, despite it lacking depth in its characters. 6/10

A Movie a Day: Zombieland

Thursday 21 January - ZOMBIELAND (2009)
My desire to see this film was fed by this review on YouTube by TomSPerkins, and I'm glad I took his advice because I really enjoyed it. The film has a brilliant, sharp, fast opening sequence that really engaged me, and I was happily entertained for the rest of the movie.

Zombieland is, of course, a zombie movie, but also a comedy. I'm not a big fan of horror movies; the only zombie films I've seen off the top of my head are 28 Days Later (not a comedy) and Shaun of the Dead (a comedy--that I loved), so I pretty much expected this to resemble the latter. Aside from the genre elements of zombies and humour, the two films are fairly different (although I wasn't comparing them while watching Zombieland). Anyway, this was a really fresh, well-made movie. 7.5/10

A Movie a Day: Shaolin Soccer

Wednesday 20 January - SHAOLIN SOCCER (2001)
Can't believe I never got around to this one; I've had a copy for such a long time and I've been told I should watch it, knowing that I would like the film--so I did watch it, and I did like it very much. My copy had dubbed English audio but without subtitles for the occasional shots of chinese text, although that wasn't really important, because this film's appeal lies not in its story but the special effects.

You can watch an American trailer for the film here, although it doesn't really do justice to the style of the film. That trailer comes across as flashy, thrilling and action-packed, but Shaolin Soccer makes hilariously absurd use of its spectacular special effects, rather than high drama. While predictable, it is a well entertaining film all-round. 7.5/10

A Movie a Day: The Hangover

Tuesday 19 January - THE HANGOVER (2009)
Really looked forward to this after hearing a lot of praise for it since its release; stuff like 'best comedy of the year'--but I was let down, and didn't find it nearly as funny as I expected. Perhaps the style of humor wasn't what I expected and so I didn't pick up on the jokes.

While The Hangover had a good, entertaining story and the actors played their characters well and the music was good, the final word is that I didn't laugh very much, and being a comedy, that's a good measure of my opinion on it. 6/10

A Movie a Day: BoyTown

Monday 18 January - BOYTOWN (2006)
I was looking forward to this movie, knowing that it had an excellent ensemble cast (Mick Molloy, Glenn Robbins, Bob Franklin, Wayne Hope, Gary Eck) and I loved previous films from the likes of Molloy (Bad Eggs, Crackerjack). BoyTown is a fictional comedy about about five men who decide to re-launch their boy band, which enjoyed success in the late '80s.

This story had so much potential, twisting the boy band stereotypes as jokes on middle-aged life. However, the characters and back-stories were paper-thin, and although this is common in comedies so as not to detract from the humor, unfortunately BoyTown wasn't very funny anyway; sadly, far less sharp than most of the cast's other work. 5/10

A Movie a Day: Shoot 'Em Up

Sunday 17 January - SHOOT 'EM UP (2007)
Watched this Clive Owen action-comedy film with and at the recommendation of my friend Walker. We were both surprised it was so gruesome but then again it's deliberately over-the-top: much of its humor revolved around the absurdity of its gore. It was virtually a parody of the action genre.

The title says it all really; it was simply a hard, fast action movie, with a few jokes thrown in. It had a fairly grungy style, set in an American slum, but what it lacked in attractiveness was made up for in excellent, creative action sequences and a production values to match. 6.5/10

A Movie a Day: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Saturday 16 January - CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF MEATBALLS (2009)
I was pleasantly surprised by Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, considering the only reason I watched it was because it was the only movie on my iPod and I wanted to watch a film to keep up my streak.

Being another animated kids film I thought it would be around 4-5/10 quality with a predictable storyline and juvenile humor but I was entertained by its quirky style and quality dialogue & comic timing. 6.5/10

A Movie a Day: Semi-Pro

Friday 15 January - SEMI-PRO (2008)
Chucked this movie on looking for some light-hearted entertainment but was disappointed not to be entertained very much.

Will Ferrell is not as funny as I so often tell myself, and Semi-Pro was almost a carbon copy of Dodgeball, not to mention several other Ferrell films, but it was simply not very funny. His sense of humour is zanier and less compatible with my own but, although I laughed aloud a few times in Semi-Pro, to me Ferrell seems to be a kid who just messes around and somehow makes films out of it. He thrives on playing washed-up men hoping to make it big through sport, and to be honest, he's looking a little washed-up himself after this flick. It's a shame, because I genuinely like Ferrell, but I didn't genuinely like this movie. 4/10

A Movie a Day: Equilibrium

Monday 11 January - EQUILIBRIUM (2002)
All I ever heard about this movie was that my friend Max mentioned it in passing about two years ago, so my only expectations were that it would be a sci-fi with a heavily psychological story.

I was very happy when Christian Bale, one of my favourite actors, appeared early on as the star of the movie. Another thing I noticed early was the uncanny similarity to George Orwell's 1984, which I studied in year 12 English last year (props go to MK haha). Equilibrium is about life in the post-World War 3 world of Libria, where human emotion is seen as the cause of conflict and thus is suppressed by the government through mandatory drugs. Bale plays John Prestion, a government agent whose job is to find and destroy emotionally stimulating material (eg. art). However, John begins experiencing emotion in the first time and he begins making dangerous steps outside his methodical lifestyle. I found it to be a thoroughly entertaining and thrilling film; my only problem would be its absurd likeness to 1984. 8/10

A Movie a Day: Room Service

Saturday 9 January - ROOM SERVICE (1938)
This Marx Brothers film was on ABC a few nights ago and my Mum taped it for my brother. Anyway, he and my Dad were watching it so I decided to make it my movie for the day (although that broke my plan of watching the two Star Wars trilogy in six straight days).

I didn't expect to enjoy this movie too much, thinking the style would be too dated and unusual, but I was pleasantly surprised. On occasion I genuinely laughed out loud at jokes, although I wouldn't want to watch it all again for a while. 6/10

A Movie a Day: Star Wars

I never properly watched Stars Wars so I decided now was a good time. Decided to watch from episode one through to six rather than in order of release, I suppose because I thought it would make the story arcs more enjoyable. My original plan was to watch six in six days, so I could write one post for them all at the end. In the end I watched other movies in between so I'm gonna come back and add to this post when I watch another episode.

Friday 8 January - EPISODE I: THE PHANTOM MENACE (1999)
A while ago I sat down to watch The Phantom Menace after school but fell asleep about halfway through. Watching it now, pretty much the whole film was vaguely familiar, either from that day after school, or from channel-surfing the TV, or from walking into the room while my brother was watching it.

My understanding of The Phantom Menace was that it was considered one the worser Star Wars movies, and while my enjoyment may have been hampered by the uncomfortably hot weather, I didn't like it very much. 6/10

Sunday 10 January - EPISODE II: ATTACK OF THE CLONES (2002)
This was more entertaining and interesting as the story developed and the special effects improved on episode one.

I thought Hayden Christensen acted very poorly as Anakin Skywalker, but overall I liked episode two better than episode one. 7/10

Tuesday 12 January - EPISODE III: REVENGE OF THE SITH (2005)
Definitely my favourite Star Wars movie so far. I loved this movie, with even better special effects and a more engrossing story than its prequels. I was well entertained for almost the whole film. 8.5/10

Wednesday 13 January - EPISODE IV: A NEW HOPE (1977)
I wasn't sure what to make of this film, because within the Star Wars canon this story fits the order I'd been watching, but of course this film itself was made almost 40 years ago, and was obviously an incredible film at the time but not by modern standards--that's the perennial challenge of watching 'classic' movies. Anyway, I did enjoy A New Hope but it was hard to get lost in the movie because the whole time I was looking for the element that made it so famous; the factor that sparked a cultural phenomenon. 7/10

Thursday 14 January - EPISODE 5: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK (1980)
Watching Episode V, I was more used to the older quality of the original trilogy, so I felt I could enjoy it a little more than Episode IV.

However, I wouldn't rate it any better. I try to ignore the hype around the classic films when I watch them, but I can't help think that this movie is not as good as A New Hope, the one that started it all. 7/10

Friday 22 January - EPISODE VI: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)
Finally watched the final installment of this epic saga. I liked this one more than the other two from the original trilogy--partly because I had seen more and was more into Star Wars than before, and partly, I think, because I didn't watch it so intently, having it on the computer while multi-tasking allowed me to watch it more lightly and enjoy it more. This really seemed like an epic movie, with several clear chapters in Luke's adventure--although it may not have stretched as far as I think, because often I went back and played scenes over to make sure I followed the story. Anyway, really enjoyed the sixth episode. 8/10

And there it is; finally, I have seen the Star Wars films. Overall I'm underwhelmed by the series, to be honest. I definitely enjoyed watching it but unfortunately I set my standards too high, expecting to be blown away--an idea developed by the fact that Star Wars has snowballed from an impressive movie to a cultural phenomenon. This notion hampered my enjoyment because, not only were my expectations too high, but I was too often searching for the element within the movies--especially the original trilogy and A New Hope--that sparked this phenomenon, as I mentioned earlier. Another thing that hampered my enjoyment was that I partly felt like it was a chore watching the movies, hearing people say 'you've GOT to watch that...' Overall, though, I'm definitely glad I watched Star Wars and I can see why so many people get so into it, but if you haven't seen it, don't worry, I don't think it's necessary to urge you to.

A Movie a Day: The Godfather

Thursday 7 January - THE GODFATHER (1972)
It's hard to judge cinema classics like this because I watch them in a completely different culture to the one in which they were made and released, so what may have been a groundbreaking film 40 years ago may not stand out against current cinema.

Regardless, I thought 'The Godfather' was an excellent movie; a deep, intelligent, epic drama, I can see why it's seen as a masterpiece. I always put off watching this because of its near-3-hour running time, but its slow-burning nature only served to heighten and build the drama, with the story developing several layers and spanning ten years. 8/10

A Movie a Day: The Bucket List

Wednesday 6 January - THE BUCKET LIST (2007)
Very disappointed with this one. Saw the trailer before its release a few years ago and liked the look of it, but it failed my expectations spectalularly. A 'meaning 0f life' exploration about two terminal cancer patients (Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman); I thought it would be a really good drama. I can't quite pinpoint its biggest fault but I found this to be a really weak, boring movie.

The characters were undeveloped and one-dimensional and the dialogue was poor, as if the two leads were only ever making small-talk. The story had potential but the whole movie just seemed really fake and I found I didn't really care about it or its characters. At the end of the movie I thought it was only halfway through and that much more drama would unfold, but it didn't, and I simply thought "is that it?" To make matters worse, the jokes were not funny at all. 3/10

A Movie a Day: The Bank Job

Tuesday 5 January - THE BANK JOB (2008)
I always wanted to see this but never got around to. I had the idea that it would be similar to 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock', two other English heist films, and I suppose it was, but I don't remember the other two exactly so can't compare too much. In any case, I enjoyed The Bank Job: it got off to a fast start and was riveting building up to the bank job itself, which surprisingly wasn't the film's greatest climax.

However, after that it all got a bit messy and boring while setting up the finale. There was a period of half-an-hour or so where it was too hard to follow as several parties moved to claim their stakes in the heist. As a result I lost interest less than halfway into the film, but I did think that the ultimate climax tied up neatly and nicely. 6.5/10

A Movie a Day: WALL•E

Monday 4 January - WALL-E (2008)
While failing to live up to the praise I seem to remember from its release, WALL-E was enjoyable, particularly thanks to excellent animation which I enjoyed in 1080p HD. Being a Disney-Pixar movie I was surprised by the desolate state of Earth and by the cynically depressing state of humanity.

The last thing I heard about the movie before I watched it was my friend bemoaning the blatancy of the anti-globalisation message, so that was on my mind and it did seem to push that social value surprisingly hard. Perhaps all Disney-Pixar films have done so but I never looked for it and missed those values. Anyway, despite all this, it really was an entertaining, pleasing film without being outstanding. Being a kids' film the story and characters were thin, so my enjoyment mostly came from the brilliant animation as well as the fascinating portrayal of society in 2085. 6.5/10

A Movie a Day: Donnie Darko

Sunday 3 January - DONNIE DARKO (2001)
This was one of those I've been told I should see, but never did. I knew it would be a strange film and to be honest didn't expect to enjoy it, and that was correct. I didn't enjoy it, but the film's style differend from my expectations. Instead of something with a little more straightforward scare factor, 'Donnie Darko' was, as far as I can describe, a really bizarre philosophical film that makes little objective sense and that I didn't understand.

My problem wasn't that it was slow but it simply explored themes beyond my grasp; I couldn't find the will to ponder metaphysics, existentialism and/or other themes. I'm not sure on the terminology, but nonetheless it left me confused. I'm not sure how to talk about this film or what else to say, so I'll leave it at that.. 4/10

A Movie a Day: Déjà Vu

Saturday 2 January - DEJA VU (2006)
Set in present-day New Orleans, Denzel Washington stars as special agent Doug Carlin investigating both the murder of a woman and the bombing of a ferry. To aid him he is presented a mysterious new technology called Snow White, which forms the basis of the story. This technology is like a surveillance camera but it can show any place at any angle within a small range, but only what happens exactly four days and six hours ago (hence 'déjà vu').

While the result of Snow White is clear, it is never properly explained, which is the movie's major pitfall: while I found it overall entertaining and exciting, it felt like the suspense was hollow, like it was built on nothing and came from nowhere. When the story started concerning time travel, it was yet more confusing and absurd, but at the same time more engrossing. Washington made an excellent performance and the plot twists went down to the wire, so it had a great climax, but there was always the feeling that it couldn't be fully appreciated due to the confusing premise.

A Movie a Day: This is England

Friday 1 January - THIS IS ENGLAND (2006)
'This is England' is a drama about gangs and politics during 1980s England. The story follows Shaun, a detached 12-year-old whose father died in the Falklands War and who is accepted by a skinhead gang.

It is a raw and powerful film, portraying the brutal nationalist and racist ideals within a skinhead community. I expected it to be a dark ride and it was. While it looked relatively low-budget its actors and story made it strong, and ultimately this was a gritty and impressive movie. 7/10

A Movie a Day: Das Wunder von Bern

Thursday 31 December - DAS WUNDER VON BERN (2003)
Das Wunder von Bern ('the miracle of Bern') is a German phrase referring to their national football team's famous 1954 World Cup triumph. I watched a German film that is, of course, based on this story, while following the family life of Matthias, a lonely boy whose best friends are his rabbits and German winger Helmut 'the Boss' Rahn. The film also deals with the recovery of family life in post-war Germany as Matthias' father returns from being held prisoner in Russia since before Matthias' birth.

I accidentally found this film on SBS while channel-surfing late one night. The film kept my interest for two reasons: it was about football and it had a historical setting. I only watched the first twenty minutes because it got late, so I acquired it later and now finally watched the rest. I think it counts for this movie-a-day thing because almost all of it is fresh to me.

I enjoyed this but not as much as I remember from the TV; I suppose because when I watched the whole thing on New Year's Eve it was dreadfully hot and I was getting ready to go out--having said that I did enjoy it as a pleasant (but unspectacular) movie. I liked the believable 1950s setting and the imagery itself had a warm tone, but the story was a little thin and there were some funny, inconsistent special effects. It felt more like a telemovie than a feature, although it was one of the most popular German cinema releases in Germany ever. I think my enjoyment was hampered the fact I watched the first part a few months before the rest (I didn't have enough time to watch it in full). It was an amiable film that did justice to one of Germany's proudest sporting moments, an event that united and helped rebuild a damaged nation. 6/10