Daveportivo's Cultural Evaluation Facility

I have to admit that I've seen very few of Hitchcock's movies, I've never seen Vertigo or Psycho it's so hard to watch a film that everyone else has seen to death, but even with my limited background in Hitchcock films I know my favourite is North By Northwest. It's just a perfect film, it's gorgeous, thrilling, stylistic, dark, creepy and wonderfully tongue in cheek. Your never quite sure if you should be terrified, absorbed or just laughing at the insanity of it all. While the direction is subtle and toes the line between the sublime and the ridiculous perfectly, and the cinematography is beyond iconic, there is only one star of this show and it's Cary Grant. From the moment he walks on screen he's just magnetic, you're drawn to him, he toes this beautiful line between the confused victim and the ultra smooth hero with great ease. He's both sympathetic and insanely cool and that's not easy to pull off. What really makes North By Northwest brilliant is it's lack of pretence, it's very knowingly ironic, and Cary Grant captures this feeling perfectly, he seems like the one human character lost in a world of whirlwind romances and crazy plot twists. Ultimately it's all things to all people, it's a great love story, it's a twist laden mystery verging on Film Noire and of course it's a balls to the wall action film. It's Hitchcock's take on the ultimate lads film, it's stylish and intelligent but at it's heart are big set pieces, insane twists and lots of sexy seduction, what more could we ask for?

Okay so now it's really looking like I have a man crush on Bruce Willis, I mean seriously I've given him two films in my top twenty and Russell Crowe gets nada. Well regardless, this film isn't really carried by Willis, he's his likable, relateable, everyman self but it's the direction, storytelling and overall grittiness that make Twelve Monkeys and unflinching triumph. It's Terry Gilliam of Brazil fame so we were all expecting mind bending visuals and great direction but this exceeded all expectations. The vision of the future is horrifying, it's so ugly, confusing and claustrophobic. In fact this entire film is grotesque, the future is hideous, warped and insane, and the present is dark, gritty and uncaring. The film is full of horrific visuals and a genuinely terrifying atmosphere. We're thrown from a bizarre future to an unsympathetic past that has Willis committed to a nut house. Twelve Monkeys is tremendously well acted but it's Brad Pitt who truly stands out with his mad, paranoid, self obsessed character who you feel remarkably attached to. It's hard to talk about Twelve Monkeys without blowing all the twists, and the plot is a bizarre jumble, some will consider it incoherent, but they are truly missing the point. The whole film is meant to have this cobbled together element, it's small pieces of a puzzle all swirling around, you never quite get a grip on reality, the viewer is put into the position of Bruce Willis' lead character, everything is as distressing to us as it is to him. The result a brutal, gritty, disorientating thrill ride.

I've always felt sorry for Babel it's truly unappreciated for one pathetic reason; Crash a vastly inferior film won the Best Picture Oscar the previous year Babel was overlooked as it was too similar in theme. Babel is often characterised as cold, dark, miserable and overly pretentious, and with the exception of the "overly-pretentious" comment, they are correct. Babel is as bleak as it gets, it revels in misery, and has a real art house feel but that's why it's so brilliant. Crash was all warm and fuzzy round the edges it stank of silver scream sentimentality, Babel feels real, depressingly and tragically real. Oddly it's not Brad Pitt and the tragically overrated Cate Blanchett that steal the show, it's the other members of the ensemble cast. Rinko Kikuchi really shines in her role as the the death Japanese teenager recovering from family tragedy. Her performance coupled with some astounding cinematography and a gorgeous soundtrack create some truly beautiful and unique cinematic moments. The scenes in the night club simply have to be seen to be believed, you really are taken into her world, and it can be both wondrous and terrifying, often at the same time, this film plunges you from joy to despair so quickly. It's grimy, tragic and unflinching cold in it's message but Babel always feels real and is remarkably affecting. The final note on this film has to be about the soundtrack, it's simply gorgeous, especially the Spanish guitar that plays throughout, and the way they capture the different cultures perfectly and bring them together through music is truly a work of art. Babel therefore maybe too cold and bleak for some but it is first and foremost work of art, and a engaging narrative second.

Ed Wood can be encapsulated in one world: charm. Everything about this movie makes you smile, it's made with such love and attention. You just feel that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp were having a riot honouring one of their heroes Ed Wood. It seems an odd topic for a motion picture, a film about the life of the man widely regarded as the worst director of all time, it seems more like a Hollywood in joke than the premise for an Oscar nominated hit. Well what makes Ed Wood so brilliant is it's message. It's a simply moral lesson, that if you work hard and believe in yourself you can make your dreams come true. No matter how wacky, bizarre or just plain untalented you are, if you believe in yourself and have true desire you can make it. Your destiny is determined by no one or nothing but yourself. Now while Ed Wood has an unmistakably loving feel and a positive message, there is a deep dark undercurrent to all this uplifting sentiment. Depp's Wood is utterly ruthless in his ambition, he hurts those who he loves, he exploits his friends, he bankrupts studios and he prays on charities and swindles them with fast talk and lies. Ed Wood is utterly ruthless, but he's so darn lovable you can't help but root for the guy. The casting is brilliant Depp is superb, as is Marin Landau as horror legend Bella Lugosi. The film creates heroes out of nobodies and never opts for easy laughs over serious contemplation. I've always found this film deeply inspiring and thought provoking. Ed Wood teaches us that we can accomplish anything that our heart desires but if we're not careful it can consume us and cause untold damage to those whom we love. Now try to watch this film without smiling, I dare you.

There is simply too much I love about this movie, I just don't know where to start. Actually I do, it has to start with Japan. I could not think of a more perfect setting for this motion picture than Tokyo. As we see these two confused and lost souls cut a drift in a foreign land weaving their own unique relationship, I just couldn't imagine this film working in any other city. Japan provides such contrasts, at times it appears bright vibrant and futuristic like a neon paradise and at other times it feel intense, claustrophobic and alien. With the use of some great cinematography and some top notch acting this film switches moods effortlessly. At the heart of this story are two actors Bill Murray who is a great serious actor, much better as a disenfranchised depressed old man that he ever was as a funny man; and of course Scarlett Johanson. Scarlett is without doubt the best actress of her generations, miles better than Blanchett and as good as any male actor you could name. Every scene in this movie feels effortless and real, Scarlett acts so perfectly, she feels like a real human being, no scene ever feels scripted, it's organic, every look, gaze and frown, it's incredibly. That after all is Lost In Translation's great strength, it's utterly believable, these two perfectly written and acted characters coming together in such a natural organic way in the most bizarre and alien of back drops. It's a beautifully acted film and one of the 21st Centuries greatest works.