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