Many years ago I got myself coerced into watching a number of Bollywood films by some Asian work friends who, as far as I could tell, thought it was funny that I’d actually watch them. To them Bollywood films was entirely a product of their culture and, by proxy, should make no sense to a silly Englishman such as myself. Over some time I sat and watched Baazigar, Daag: The Fire and Gharwali Baharwali. All of which are damn enjoyable films and quite a good crash course in modern Bollywood movies. None of those movie hold a candle to the film I’m reviewing today though. Sholay goes beyond being a big deal in India. It played solidly in cinemas for 5 years and it still wouldn’t be too hard to find a cinema showing it today some 38 years later. When adjusted for inflation it is the highest grossing Indian film of all time. It also proves that Bollywood films aren’t just for the people of their homeland. I say this because Sholay is one of the greatest Westerns of all time. Click the link for my review.
During 2012 a number of films were released that could almost be seen as love letters to the history of cinema. We had Hugo which featured the early career of George Melies and many silent cinema nods. Cabin In The Woods played out as one huge love up/damnation of the horror genre which simultaneously paid tribute to classic horror whilst showing you how horror worked and, by proxy, how simple horror has recently become. Mark Cousins released a beautiful 15 hour long film about the Story Of Film which is a must watch for any film fans. Today’s film is another of these tributes to classic cinema in the form of The Artist. At The Oscars last year it was The Artist and Hugo that swept up a lot of the awards, which kinda says a lot about how nostalgic the Oscar committee are. Does The Artist manage to be more than just a tribute to the early days of cinema? Well, click the link for my irrelevant views.
You know what is quite a nice experience? Revisiting a film you haven’t seen for a long time. I don’t mean a long time as in a couple of years, or even a decade. I mean long enough to not be entirely sure that the film was a good as you remember it being. Quite often this doesn’t pay off as anyone who I’ve forced to watch the Garbage Pail Kids Movie will testify. But sometimes it really pays off, as it did a number of years back when I re-watched Robocop for the first time since I was a kid. Nostalgia is a fickle bitch. Last night I watched a film I haven’t seen since it was released on VHS here in the UK which has to be around 18 years now. Lets see how well that film, True Romance, holds up.
Christmas time was always fun around the Spacemonkey household back in my youth. Big dinners, cool gifts thanks in part to 80s excess and most importantly, awesome Christmas movies. Before Christmas movies turned into the continual stream of yearly blandness that we have today that is. Well, with maybe the exception of Elf. That’s actually a kind of fun film. Back then there was one film that would always be on my “to watch” list. One film that always put me in the Christmas mood. That film was, of course, Ernest Saves Christmas. I don’t own a copy of Ernest Saves Christmas, so instead, this year I’m reviewing my second favourite Christmas film of all time. The Bill Murray starring modern day adaptation of A Christmas Carol, Scrooged.
About a week ago I noted that when I come to review truly great films, such as RoboCop in that instance, I often worry that I’ll struggle to find the right words to describe just how good the film is. Today I review a film that is also going to be a struggle to find the right words for. Not because it’s a stunning film that should go down in history as one of the greatest ever. It is certainly not that. It’s also not a terrible film. The trouble with Tim & Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie is that it is, as the title suggests, a Tim & Eric movie. They have such a unique and specific corner of comedy all to themselves and it becomes hard to criticise their film on the standards you would most. It’s one of those films that the fans will “get”, that most people won’t and what that means is that the films worth becomes difficult to quantify. Wish me luck…
So while I try to learn how to edit like a amateur to make my first video for The Games Dump (It is being made, I promise. And it will not be worth the wait.) I decided I shouldn’t neglect the blog I actually have running. So I decided to get onto one of the films I’ve had ready to watch for a while now. The James Franco and Danny McBride starring Your Highness. Click the link for my review!
About 8 months ago I introduced a friend of mine to the glory that is Tremors starring Kevin Bacon. It’s a film I’ve loved since I was a kid. Kevin Bacon didn’t star in the sequels. I’m not a fan of the sequels. So much so I never bothered watching the prequel Tremors 4 the Legend Begins. That was until a few days ago when the same friend of mine revealed that she had a copy and I’m gonna pretend she forced me to watch it. To be fair this prequel isn’t entirely bad though. So how entirely not bad is it? Click the link to find out!!!
Unfathomably, John C Reilly season continues here on The Film Dump! Somehow, through the sheer luck of the Lovefilm disc selection lottery I have managed to receive 3 John C Reilly starring films in a row. Seriously, I did nothing to manipulate this. Last week I reviewed Carnage, at the start of this week I reviewed We Need To Talk About Kevin and today I’m covering the Will Ferrell & John C Reilly starring Step Brothers. I don’t think I have any more films on my rental list with him in them though so normal service should be resumed shortly. For now, click the link for my review dum-dum.
Now the Bat-season is over I can get back to reviewing films that don’t involve the lead wearing head to toe rubber costumes. Yes, those films exist. One such film is Roman Polanski’s latest, Carnage. I have mentioned this before but I quite like Polanski’s work. His film Knife In The Water was one of the first foreign language films I ever saw when I was a young lad. It single handedly made me appreciate foreign and black & white films at a time when my favourite films were the Police Academy movies. And Robocop, I loved (and still love) Robocop. Point is it opened a door to a wider range of cinema and directors. If you’ve never seen any of his films Knife In The Water is the place to start. Then watch Chinatown, greatest movie ever made. So, Carnage, what’s it like? Click the link for my review.
Like a film genre exploring Batarang that has passed the ellipsis of it’s flight I have returned to the source of my second to last review, the 1960s Batman. By which I mean I’ve gone from the 1966 Batman movie, to the exact opposite in the form of Yasujiro Ozu’s Tokyo Story and now I have rejoined Adam West & Burt Ward for what my be their most confounding adventure yet. The theft of the Batmobile. What in the blue hell am I on about? Click the link to find out.
