My Favorite Movies

My dad used to extol the values of this fondly remembered thriller to the point of annoyance when I was a kid. I finally got my mitts on it when I bought a sale DVD copy of it a few years back and kinda saw the old boy's point.
One of the most interesting things I found about it was the quirky juxtaposition (spot the media student!) of placing a quintessentially classic Hollywood-era heroine (and a blind one at that) in a very modern and threatening dilemma. Hepburn plays the part with the blissfull naivete of one of her celebrated starrier roles (eg Eliza Doolittle) but is pitted against the supremely menacing Alan Arkin, whose knife wielding thug is an indicator of some of the nastier screen villains to come in the '70s.
This clash of cinematic codes makes for pretty tense viewing; I for one was nervous during the sequences involving the pair; I didn't want any harm to come to her at all!
It isn't a perfect film by any means- you can tell a mile off that it's based on a stage play as the director keeps it extremely simple and the cinematography is incredibly staid at times. However, it makes up for such faults in a chilling, dark-enshrouded climax which even rivals the mighty "Rear Window" for edge of your couch tension.
All in all though a slightly overlooked gem in the wonderful Hepburn's impressive screen canon that possibly deserves more attention than it gets. Except from my dad, who still goes on about it.

The prolific director/star/ daredevil stuntman Jackie Chan was a tad miffed by the time he made this action classic- his dabbling with Hollywood the first time round (in the "Cannonball Run" flicks as well as his feted star debut "The Protector", which bombed) had left him cold. However, on his return to his homeland, the walloping success of this (the first proper Kung Fu Police Thriller tagged not incorrectly with "More action than you've ever seen!") brought about a creative purple patch in his career. The choice gems from the slew of flicks to follow (including "Dragons Forever", "Armour of God" and "Wheels on Meals") represent Chan at his fun, action-packed best.

The plot is typically basic stuff, as hinted at by the Ronseal "does what it says on the tin" title; with Chan playing Kevin Chan, (it's the little differences!) the star cop of his precinct who is inevitably forced to play by his own rules when up against a ruthless drug lord. But as goes without saying with Chan's best output- it's the relentless action sequences within it that everyone is there for. "Police Story" has many of them, and the opener: a ramshackle shootout-cum-carchase through a tiny hillside shanty town, is a wildly kinetic treat. Theres barely room to make a toilet break during all the barnstorming action; in fact the movie was nicknamed "Glass Story" by the crew, who must have gone through hundreds of panes of stunt glass during shooting.

As with most Chan movies, theres a perverse thrill from watching the end credits out-take sequences, which show the man suffering for his art on a very regular basis. In this one, during the climax's spectacular leap and slide down a light-encrusted pole in a shopping mall, Chan managed to dislocate his pelvis. Doctors didn't even know it was possible till Chan showed them otherwise. Respect. And ouch.

There's been a great many duff Hollywood remakes of successful european movies over the years, but not many instil the feeling of Bruce Banner-esque rage in my bones as the Jeff Bridges/ Kiefer Sutherland version of "The Vanishing". What's worse is the fact that this low-key and skillfully structured French/Dutch masterpiece and it's gaudy American namesake are directed by the same guy. George Sluizer, what was on your mind?!

Anyway, lets forget the crap Hollywood version with its compromised, Disney ending and focus on Sluizer's original, which manages to eke out an unbearable amount of tension and curious dread in the viewer, and- clinically- without even showing a drop of blood onscreen.

This is partly due to the aforementioned structuring, which is ingenius to the max and slowly reveals to the viewer the motives of the film's villain: an intelligient everyman who happens to be a sociopath (not a psychopath; another cliche the film stresses to avoid).

Another memorable factor is the core struggle between the two fantastic leads: French stalwart Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu as the reserved, sociopathic family man with an evil plan and Gene Bervoets as the paranoid young traveller, chronically obsessed with finding his missing girlfriend: Saskia, over a number of years. When the two finally meet after some masterly and elliptical plotting, the suspense grips like a vice.

Add to this gallic stew of suspense one of the great shock endings of all time and you have a bona fide classic of modern European cinema. Shame about that godawful remake!

The best new movie I saw in 2008 by a long shot: an utterly unique piece which uses a stylish, lo-fi form of animation as a pallette for a supremely thoughtful and moving meditation on war and its consequences.
On a basic level, it is a documentary style quest by writer/director/producer Ari Folman to recover his amnesia-clouded memories of an infamous incident during the war in Lebanon during the early 80's, in which he served as an Israeli soldier.
What Folman does with the format is startling though; presenting us with unforgettable visuals including beautifully realised dream sequences, a fantastic period soundtrack (I just about cheered on hearing PIL's "This Is Not A Love Song") and some wonderfully portrayed views on the very nature of memories themselves- all shot through with some biting gallows humour. But, whatever light-hearted and gloriously aesthetic moments there are to enjoy (and there are many) are all brought crushingly into historical and moral context at the film's conclusion; which ranks among the most stark and shattering I've witnessed in any movie. It may be an animation, but Disney it sure ain't.
In fact, possibly the only thing I could hold against this movie was the inability to see some of the subtitles during the interview sequences- which says a lot for it's brilliance.