My Favorite Movies

This is arguably the best Taylor-Burton collaboration from the history of their extensive joint movie careers. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is a profound and rip-roaringly precise examination of the human psyche. Although Taylor won the Oscar (deservedly), Burton is once again under-appreciated by the industry and some critics alike. In scenes such as George's soliloquy in the garden, Burton manages to portray an intelligent, deeply intellectual man who is oppressed and misunderstood completely, or perhaps understood too well by his overbearing wife. Burton actually uses his facial expressions and physical gestures rather than his trademark booming voice for effect in this film. This works splendidly, particularly when he is framed in between Sandy Dennis and George Segal. The idea was to focus attention on Burton's eyes without using a close up and it does work perfectly. A rather sad and nostalgic effect is achieved through the two younger characters facing him who have their entire lives before them, whilst George has struggled through his own mere existence. The resentment felt by George is so clear in Burton's eyes as they sparkle with tears and become dull with a feeling of complete uselessness for the character.

As in other films, Burton does use his voice, only a little less frequently. His ability to change tone, volume and characteristic, vocally, are second to none. This is particularly evident in the scene where George destroys Martha's facade about their son. By using the malevolence of tone, fluctuating volume and harsh realism that Burton familiarised himself with through much of his early cinema, George ultimately deconstructs Martha's lies in the most devastating way he can. Burton conveys the absolute core of George, a broken man who has little use for his life, as though it really were himself.

Taylor's performance is also outstanding. Whenever she gives a good performance, (which is more often than she is credited for) people are usually shocked. Perhaps this is because of her colourful personal life and the public need to chisel through it before her performance can actually be criticised. There is not a scene in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" where she is not memorable. From her exclamation of "What a dump!" - alluding to the Bette Davis' film "Beyond the Forest" - to her excruciatingly brilliant deliverance of the final speech about her son, Taylor is truly on top form. In the former scene she carries out the infamous chicken eating sequence and speaks to George in a fashion that resembles some form of perceived 'normality', yet for it's time it is the most unnatural behaviour of a stereotypical 1960's American couple.While Edward Albee is to be thanked for this, Burton & Taylor only compliment his work. The dialogue in the chicken-eating sequence is portrayed as though this tension and hatred of each other is the norm for the couple.

Martha: "We've got guests."
George: "Got what?"
Martha: "Guests. Guests!"
George: "Guests?"
Martha: "Yeah, guests. People! We've got guests coming over."

Martha's soliloquy about their son is one of the best delivered speeches in the film. The trembling voice, the tattered appearance - so unusual in a Taylor film - and the exhausted expression combined, make it a superb deliverance. Burton's satirical interruptions with passages from the Last Rites in Latin are also brilliant and add to the drama. Sandy Dennis and George Segal are excellently cast also, especially Dennis. Segal notably won that year for Best Actor, beating Burton oddly enough. Dennis sparkles with youth and naivete particularly in the last scene. Her innocence is perfect as she attempts to stop George from destroying Martha when he tells her about the death of their son. Dennis also won in 1966 for Best Supporting Actress for the film, deserving nothing less.

"Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" is possibly one of the most trying films to watch at times as it is terribly depressing and heavy, yet vividly relatable and tangible. Many have said that Burton finally found the serious role that he searched for all his life in his final film "1984", but this film is my personal favourite of his. It is another factor which makes the film depressing, that Richard Jenkins was once again robbed of the recognition he so richly deserved from one of the few great roles of his career.

As far as sequels go, this one was excellent. Lacking the enthusiasm of its predecessor perhaps, but with the same stellar cast and added greats such as Joan Cusack as the evil, money-obsessed nanny. In this follow-up, audiences are graciously privileged to see the blossoming Christina Ricci take her place as one of the better American actresses of latter years playing Wednesday, the gloomy daughter of Morticia and Gomez. Anjelica Huston provides the eerie beauty and creepy allure of Morticia, wife and mother of the Addams clan. In one of his last movies before his untimely death, Raul Julia gives one of his personal best performances as the cigar-smoking patriarch of the clan. Together, Julia and Huston are magical, timeless and perfect in their portrayal of the passionate, gruesome twosome. Huston is comparably as entertaining in 'The Witches', yet in more recent films, I feel she has become slightly stereotyped in her roles. One of her better performances occurred in 'The Royal Tenenbaums' along with Gene Hackman, where she showed some of the same lustrous enthusiasm for the role, as she did in 'Addams Family Values'. Christopher Lloyd of 'Back to the Future' fame stars as Gomez's brother Fester - 'It means to rot.'! Fester is the unfortunate romantic fool and prey to the children's new nanny, due to his infamous amounts of cash. Lloyd as always is loyal to the fans and never fails to make one laugh, as the rascalish younger brother. Entreating the children to adventures with cyanide and arsenic in the first movie, he remains a loving uncle, always willing to light a light-bulb in his mouth for Pugsley's entertainment! Jimmy Workman, I have noticed is hardly ever credited for his very believable performance as the son of the Addams', Pugsley. As a young boy, constantly the play-thing in his sister's world of "Let's play 'God'", letting Wednesday electrocute him, assisting his sister in dropping their new sibling off the roof and generally carrying knives and other sorts of dangerous implements, all for the fun! 'Addams Family Values' is good, clean(ish) fun for all the family, but unlike its predecessor, it might be more enjoyable to the kids.

One of the best films I've ever seen. Vincent is a legend!

Given the recent hype of Stephenie Meyer's 'Twilight' series, 'Let the Right One In' provides a more realistic vision of vampirism as it still exists today. The two main characters are both endearing yet unsettling in their own ways. Oskar (Kåre Hedebrant) a bullied twelve year old boy and Eli (Lina Leandersson) a twelve year old (albeit, she's been twelve for a long time) who must drink blood to live, are joined together in what seems to be a journey to save each other from their alternate worlds.

The film is startlingly blunt in it's depiction of murder, particularly when Eli's father (Per Ragnar) ventures out in the night to murder young boys in order to draw blood and bring it back to Eli. The act of hanging the victim from a tree upside down and slitting the throat to tap blood alludes to ancient vampiric lore whilst the scene is set in physical contrast against a background of pure white snow. Although the actual slitting of the throat is mostly guarded from view, the sound is an art in itself as it allows for the viewers imagination to conjure an image for themselves.

Unlike 'Nosferatu' or 'Dracula', this portrayal of a vampire who does not wish to go out and kill of her own accord, unless she has to, is a challenge for the viewer. The fact that she appears as a child but is evidently much older also allows for empathy with her plight. Leandersson plays the part naturally, and effortlessly oozes an aura of suffering balanced with the knowledge that she possesses great power. Oskar is also intriguing, as he strikes a solitary figure throughout the film until he begins to fall in love with Eli. His constant torment arising from the bullying he receives almost daily is quenched by his encounters with Eli, this most peculiar of girls.

The film has a number of outstanding scenes which are notable, especially for the cinematography. When Eli's father is about to be discovered and arrested for murder, in desparation he disfigures himself with acid that was about to be used in the process of killing a victim. Eli later visits him in hospital and there we see the results of his attempts to kill himself. The scene is shot beautifully and perfectly encompasses the father's last few moments of desparation and pain as Eli draws his blood and allows him to drop the seven floors from his hospital window to the snow-covered ground. The auduence witnesses his death from his daughter's perspective. For Eli this is yet another reminder of how alone she is in a world where fear of the sun, food and the need to be invited into a room are all isolating factors in her existence.

One of the final scenes is, in my opinion, the most impressive. In order to torture Oskar for retaliating against a bully, the young boy is held underwater for three minutes by the older brother of one of the bullies. As he is submerged the viewer is taken underwater with Oskar and there we hear the sound of shattering glass accompanied by the vicious decapitation of one of the bullies and the murder of the perpitrator holding Oskar beneath the water. Eli rescues Oskar as she had promised him she would and the film is brought to a close with Oskar trainbound and Eli hidden in his suitcase.

Overall, the film is well-made, a characteristic that may seem simple but appears to have been overlooked by some contemporary film-makers of the Hollywood bourgeosie. 'Let the Right One In' is a refreshing take on the vampire film. It is comforting to find a story that can portray the traditional vampiric lore through a contemporary setting, whilst remaining eerie and seemingly untouched by the Hollywood treatment of vampirism. Thus, it is advisable to see the film before Hollywood attempts a remake!

Every once in a while, a film emerges from the depths of a studio that is so original, groundbreakingly brilliant and skillfully made that it breaks all previously held conceptions about movie-making. Terminator Salvation is not any of these things. It is not groundbreakingly brilliant or likely to make a mind-blowing impact on the viewer. What it does do is provide a plausible and entertaining sequel to Terminator 2 (I refuse to believe that Terminator 3 exists - what were they thinking?)

The basic plot of Salvation surrounds the character of murderer, Marcus Wright. A meeting with Dr. Serena Kogan (Helena Bonham Carter) before his execution results in Wright donating his body for medical research. Unknowingly, he has donated his corpse to Cyberdene Systems who are responsible for the creation of the Skynet system. Skynet, perceiving humans as a threat to its own existence, sets out to eradicate humanity in an overly cliched event named Judgement Day. Wright awakens in the year 2018 to discover that he is a cyborg with human organs, thus John Connor (Bale) must decide whether Wright is his enemy or part of the solution to stopping Skynets plans.

Salvation struggles at times to offer a fully coherent storyline and attempts to cover this by exhibiting somewhat deafening sound effects. Aside from this, the plot grows quite rapidly and at times is remarkably clever. The fourth instalment notably does very little to deepen the character of John Connor, rather it makes way for the talents of Sam Worthington as Marcus Wright. While the film lacks a certain finesse in parts, Worthington's acting manages to retain a certain glory, especially when he realises he has been tricked by Dr Kogan (Bonham Carter).

I found Christian Bale unsavoury, an unusual contribution from a normally ingenious actor. After his predicted success in The Dark Knight, Bale has created an expectation and calibre for his successive movies. In Salvation, he does not so much dissappoint as he does lack an expected on-screen presence.

Overall, Terminator Salvation is a plausible and well-conceived sequel to the first two Terminator films. There is a feeling at the end of the film that the franchise is being milked to the very nth degree as John Connor's final transmission to the Human Resistance states that the war is not over. Who knows, perhaps the next instalment will further the impact made by Salvation. In my opinion, the ending of the current release could have been tweaked to bring the franchise to a conclusion rather than leave the door to a possibly disastrous follow-up widely ajar!