The Crow (1994)

I have no idea how many times I've seen this film.  As a teenager, I pretty much watched it every weekend.  I listened to the soundtrack constantly.  I had something of an obsession with Brandon Lee.  I would wake up early on Saturday, sneak downstairs, plug headphones in to the VCR, and press play.  I don't even think I owned it - I think I hired it from my local video store.  Every week.  I should have just bought it, but I guess it must have been hard for me to find.

It's been a little while since I've seen it.  As soon as I pressed play, everything was so familiar.  At first glance, it's not exactly a film you would call comforting, but it comforts me.  Surprisingly for me, there were moments in this film that I hadn't noticed before.  Or I haven't watched it in that long that I'd forgotten about them.  Small moments, glances, gestures. And I realised that the characters I dislike, I dislike with such passion it's as though they've hurt me personally.

This film was something of a phenomenon when I was a teenager, to the point of saturation and over-hype.  There's a reason for it though.  It's a beautiful, melancholic film.  Lee is amazing in this movie.  Subtle, furious and burning.  It shows that he was truly something special as a performer.  And T-Bird's dying monologue, the sparks falling in to the water, the soprano vocal and the burning crow is a stunningly gorgeous piece of cinema.  Great acting moment for David Patrick Kelly.

Big call, but I might possibly call this my favourite film.

Final Thought:  In looking up trivia about this movie, I just discovered that they're planning to film a remake.  I love this film so much that I can't help but take that as a personal affront.  How dare they.

Up Next:  The Darjeeling Limited (2007)

Con Air (1997)

I first saw this film on a bus to a school camp in the country.  I think it might have been the only film the bus driver had, and we might have watched it more than once.  Bizarrely, the entire group on the bus enjoyed watching this.  I say this is bizarre because it was a bus full of teenage girls who didn't generally seek out this sort of film.  Or perhaps I just really enjoyed it and projected my enjoyment on to everyone else.

It's not the best film.  I realise this.  It's barely even a good film.  I was blinded by my discovery of John Cusack (whose entire film catalogue I subsequently made it my mission to see, and some further evidence of this will come up in later entries).  But I really enjoyed this film when I saw it the first time.  And the second time.  And the twentieth time.  I went out and bought it on VHS and watched it repeatedly.  I thought Nicholas Cage was a bit lame, but who cares when John Cusack, John Malkovich and Steve Buscemi are around to make up for it?

By the time I reached this in my current movie library viewing crusade, it had definitely been more than 5 years since I'd seen it.  Unlike Clueless before it, this one hasn't aged as well for me (though John Cusack is still as wonderful as ever).  I like my crappy action movies, don't get me wrong.  More of them will pop up as this project continues.  But sometimes it can be difficult get past the fact that they're not great.  I wonder what I would think of this film if the nostalgia factor were removed...

Final Thought:  It seems as though they thought that "Put the bunny back in the box" somehow carried the same ominous feeling as "I'll be back."

Up Next:  Cool Runnings (1993)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

 Captain America: The First Avenger is fine.  It's not fantastic, it's not awful, it's fine.

Chris Evans is actually perfect for the role, from what I can tell (not having read the comics).  I would love to see him pushed in more challenging roles than those he's done so far.  And Hugo Weaving is surprisingly restrained playing such a ridiculous character, which is good I guess, because it would be easy to take it too far.

There seems to be an element missing to connect the montages and action sequences to the emotion of the story.  So it's a bit disjointed to me.  I actually prefer the origin part of the tale rather than once the action kicks in to gear, which is not the norm for this type of film.

Final Thought:  Skinny, short Chris Evans?  CGI is freaky.

Up Next:  Casablanca (1942)

The Bourne Identity (2002)

I thought I'd seen this film at least twice.

I was almost right.

I've started it at least twice, and then fallen asleep, been distracted, or had to leave.
This means that I've seen sections of it, but it turns out that I have never seen the end. 

 That means that, each time I see this, I'm surprised by how great Matt Damon is in an action movie.  Matt Damon huh?  Who would have thought?

I still feel like I need to watch this film again.  I missed some intricacies as I was revelling in merely being conscious for the whole thing.  It's a bit terrible that I've fallen asleep in a film so gripping.

It's a great film, it really is, I'm just still a bit unsure of what actually happens.  I missed key parts of narrative by exclaiming "Omigod I haven't seen this bit!!  Oh things make much more sense now!"  And it's not that the film is overly complex, I just have severe gaps in my absorption of it.

I need to be less excitable next time.

Final Thought:  Thinking about it now, I still can't actually recall how things tie together.  Dammit.

Up Next:  Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)  

The Avengers (2012)

Not to be too much of a fangirl about it, but Joss Whedon's work is pretty great.  I remember watching the original Buffy movie any time I had a sleepover with my friends as a teenager.  Then when I heard that there was going to be a TV show, years later, I counted down the minutes until the first episode.  I faithfully watched and recorded every show (I still have the collection of VHS) and, as it was moved to later and later timeslots, I enlisted my father to carry on the taping for me (though once I got a TV of my own, I'd sneakily watch it anyway in the middle of the night).
This loyalty carried on to Angel when it started.  Then Firefly came, and I was skeptical, plus it screened at 1am on a school night in Australia, so I only got around to seeing that on DVD before going to see Serenity, and I wished I'd seen it sooner.  Dollhouse took a few episodes to convince me, but convince me it did.  And don't get me started on The Cabin In The Woods...  I'll talk about that when I get to it in this project (which I am planning to time precisely to coincide with the DVD release so I can include it).

Anyone who is a fan of Joss Whedon has absolute trust in any project he takes on, occasionally blindly so.  But in our defense, we're yet to be given a reason why we shouldn't.
Thankfully, The Avengers continued his trend of quality products.
It's oh so fun.  
There was a lot of pressure, poor guy, because they've been setting up for this film for a long time, what with all the individual hero movies to introduce us to the characters.

I don't really feel qualified enough to comment much on the characters themselves, not having read the comic books.  But I will say two things:
The last two incarnations of the Hulk have been so tortured - it's really nice to see the character romp around and have (violent) fun.  I'm not an authority on the Hulk, but for me think that's why it works.
And, as an Aussie, I love how good Chris Hemsworth is as Thor.

Final Thought:  Stan Lee's cameos just get better and better.

Up Next: Babe (1995)

Air Force One (1997)

I feel slightly cheated that, although I own this on VHS, there are no trailers.  Why is it that trailers on VHS are enjoyable and part of the overall experience, but trailers on DVD are an annoyance?  Is it just the nostalgia of it?  


Harrison Ford as the president of the United States.  A lot of actors have had a go at that by now.  Ford's take seems to be that the president is just a normal guy, who wants to watch the football and spend time with his family.  Which is somewhat refreshing.


For movie purposes however, he also conveniently has military training and is a war hero, which so many everyman action characters happened to have back in the 90s.  So, inevitably, the time comes when our hero has to reluctantly draw from his old training to save the day.  

Despite his supposed military training, Harrison Ford fights like he's in a bar brawl.  Which I personally think is great.  You can believe that he would actually fight that way.  When he's hit, he feels it and you can tell.  That makes you cheer him on all the more.


And is there any role that Gary Oldman can't play?  The man is amazing.

Final Thought:  When was the last time a fax machine saved the day?

Up Next:  A Life Less Ordinary (1997)