My top 10 movies of all time

I love movies, and without sounding at all pretentious, I consider the experience of going to a cinema to be one of my favourite things to actually do. I love the idea of escaping from reality, of looking into another world of storytelling. For me, good cinema is a reminder that you're not in a theatre.

I have never really thought about what my favourite movies of all time were, until my brother asked me while we were watching Jurassic Park. So after a bit of thinking I came up with my list. Aside from the first two on the list, the rest are interchangeable, depending on how I feel. Some would most likely appear on most other peoples lists, some are technically great movies, others are just ones that I like personally. But each of them have one thing in common, I can always watch them no matter what mood I'm in.

So in a very short summary, here's my list.



1.Blade Runner:

Serious science fiction very rarely works for me, often coming across as self indulgent and pretentious, full of ideas but no emotion. But Blade Runner is different, it asks serious questions about humanity, in particular its relationship with artificial intelligence. The visual photography, outstanding for their time, still hold up well to this day.

There is also the masterful soundtrack by Vangelis, which elevates the film even further. Listening to 'Love Theme' instantly transcends your thoughts to somewhere else.

And to this day, I still haven't seen anything as powerful as the opening shot to this film, and 'The Tears in the Rain' speech at the end of the movie. Simply sublime, and soulful.

Art on screen.

2.
Rear Window

If ever there is a movie to showcase Hitchcock's genius film-making , it is Rear Window. Which is strange because outside of film nerds, Rear Window is often forgotten amongst Hitchcock's other movies such as 'Psycho' and 'Birds'.

Full of suspense and mystery, watching Rear Window is like turning the pages of a book you just can't put down. No movie has captured an assemble of interplaying characters within the same plot quite like this.

3.
RoboCop

An old childhood favourite of mine, and one that will forever hold up.

Not only is the action hard hitting and raw, underneath all of it is an action movie with substance, and a real social message about the extremities of neo-liberal economics.

'Dead or alive you're coming with me'.

4.
The Sixth Sense

Everyone knows it for that twist, and boy was it a great twist. It was also genuinely scary, and it was a ghost story which was character driven as much as it was story driven. Which is very rare in a movie.

The logic and the story can be questioned on repeat viewings, but I think it's a testament to the film not a detriment.

5.
Christmas Vacation

The greatest Christmas film of all time, and possibly the greatest comedy of all time. Even if you only watched this film once every year, it will forever be hilarious. There's an endless list of classic scenes.
It's a rare Christmas movie which is good, and a rare comedy which is better than its predecessors.

That moment where Clark Griswald gets pissed at the lights not coming on is worth seeing just by itself.

6.
Rocky

If the movie industry wasn't entirely about economics, the first Rocky film should have been the only one in the series ever made. Before it was then turned into a parody of itself, and then to some degree redeeming itself in the end.

Rocky's great because it's the ultimate underdog story, the outsider who went against the odds and won. It really is inspirational.

But beneath it all, is a story of love and family, of belonging somewhere and not letting go, no matter what.

I could watch this film everyday for the rest of my life and still enjoy it.

Adrian why you wanna fight?

Rocky Because I can't sing or dance.

7.
Alien

Arguably the greatest monster novie in history. And it is in my opinion the only truly great entry in the series.

While tame by today's standards, the chest bursting scene still holds up, and gives the audience a taste of the malignant idea of something 'other' growing inside of you, and then ultimately killing you. It's still atmospherically scary with a good band of fleshed out characters. As well as a strong female lead, which is rare now and much rarer back then.

The H R Geiger's xenomorph is mesmerising in itself, elevating the movie in a direction which it wouldn't if it was anything different. The set designs are gritty, seductive and intriguing all at the same time.

8.
Lost In Translation

On the surface, this movie is rather hollow, and arguably, on face value, a little pretentious in some places. But I like it because not only are the two main characters relatable, but they're also rather likeable. It's story about the coming together of two people who're in some form of life crisis, in a place that is strange to them. Their loneliness essentially brings them together.

The casting is perfect, Bill Murray and an unknown Scarlett Johansson play the leads perfectly, the city of Tokyo acts as a character all by itself, rather than just being a background piece.

It also has a indefinitely listenable soundtrack, which compliments the neurotic tone of the film.

Charlotte: Let’s never come here again because it will never be as much fun.

9.
Toy Story 2

Along with Monsters Inc this is my favourite Pixar movie. For me it's just a tad better than the first Toy Story. In part, because the characters are already established, and the supporting characters from the first movie play a bigger part, and new ones are introduced.

But I think it's the best in the series because it's the most fun, and the most emotional. While the first was about the character's accepting who they are. Toy Story 2 is about friendship and belonging, without being preachy and overly sentimental.

The scenes in Al's Toy Barn are the Toy Story series at their finest.

10.
Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

My favourite in the LOTR trilogy.

Watching the Battle of Helm's deep in the cinema is still greatest cinematic experience I have ever had, the build up and the tension was unbelievable. Watching moments like that are what shared movie experiences are made for.
Unrivalled to this day.

Honourable mentions:

Speed- Non stop action, along with 'Die Hard', it's my favourite pure action movie of all time
The Cable Guy- Jim Carrey in his darkest role, shamefully forgotten and very underrated in my opinion
Jurassic Park- a rare blockbuster that it is more than the sum of its parts.
Ghostbusters 1&2- While the first is the better film, the second is more fun. Would definitely be in my top 15 list.
Snow White and the Sven Dwarfs- In my top 3 Disney movies, nothing has scared me as much as the first time I saw it as a child.
Seven- The perfect horror/mystery combination. On anther day, this would be in my top ten. So utterly brilliant, the story drags you in all the way. The lighting is sublime, I wish I had seen this in a cinema theatre
The Godfather: Part 2- I love this movie, but I haven't seen it in a number of years

The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies

The final instalment is a good addition to the trilogy, but it has its flaws.

Director: Peter Jackson
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 141 minutes

We're finally there, 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is the final instalment in the prequel series to the 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy, and boy does it feel like a long time coming. I thought 'An Unexpected Journey' was long winded, but a good movie overall, and the follow up was an improvement. It was obvious from the start that 'The Hobbit' should never have been a trilogy, and watching this has not changed that, in many ways it has cemented it.

The film starts off where 'The Desolation of Smaug' left off. With the dragon Smaug setting aflame Lake-town, and the opening of the movie is amazing, and there is a lot of satisfaction in seeing Smaug come to his death. But it does feel like it should be at the end of a movie rather than the beginning.

From then on, the movie spends about forty five minutes building up to the final battle, as all of the different sides want to lay claim to the treasure in Erebor, that was left dormant by Smaug. We watch as Thorin (Richard Armitage) becomes paranoid and corrupted by his new power as the King, and in his search for the Arkenstone. Until he eventually redeems himself.

When the battle plays out, it is relentless, as one army after another enters to fight the Orcs. The battle is epic and thoroughly entertaining, and the final fight scenes between the main protagonists and villains is a joy to watch. However, for all its size and scope, the battle never reaches the level of greatness of the battle of Helm's Deep in 'The Two Towers' or the last battle in 'Return of the King'.

One of the reasons for this is that there was real tension in the lead up to those battles, it also helped that the Orcs were not computer generated characters, they were real people in practical make up and costumes. It made them so much more intimidating, the Orcs are now so much more disposable, as one by one they get slayed so effortlessly. There is also far too much overhead shots swooping by as the battle goes on, making the whole thing look and feel like a video game cutscene.

The cast is a positive for the film, the majority of the casting throughout the whole trilogy has been stellar, Martin Freeman has really nailed down the part of Bilbo Baggins, and Luke Evans really shines in this movie as Bard. But there is one negative, the character Alfrid (assistant to the master of Lake-town) is there for comic relief, but he just ends up being a huge distraction, it really is jarring when you consider that this is a really dark movie, for the most part.

Things get a little emotional as the movie comes to its conclusion, which is satisfyingly good, and it also links well with the original Lord of the Rings trilogy. But, I can't help but feel the Hobbit trilogy is a massive climbdown from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. It might be unfair to compare the two, but they both exist in the same universe and have the same director, so I think it's fair game.

The original Lord of the Rings trilogy set the benchmark for Fantasy cinema, and it will forever be hard to live up to. But with the original trilogy, they were films intended to be more than just the sum of their parts, they weren't just blockbuster movies. In other words, they were not made just for the sake of money making. Which I do not believe is the case with 'The Hobbit' trilogy, but they have just felt kind of like by the numbers blockbuster movies, and not much else.

Verdict- 'The Battle of the Five Armies' is a pleasing conclusion, and well worth your time and money. I would rank it on equal footing as 'An Unexpected Journey', but not quite as thrilling as 'The Desolation of Smaug.

3.5/5

Sonic Generations: Review

One of the best Sonic games ever!!

I, like so many staunch Sonic the Hedgehog fans, for the most part has had to put up with in terms of quality, inconsistent games in the blue hedgehog's catalogue over the last decade or so. Some missed opportunities (Sonic 06) and some good/average games (Sonic Unleashed). Before those there was the two Adventure games, which have both dated badly since their initial releases. 

So a couple of weeks ago I came across 'Sonic Generations' (XBOX 360) for £10 in a second hand video game shop. I wasn't too sure at first, but I bought it, and I'm glad I did. For those who don't know, Generations was released in 2011 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the first ever Sonic the Hedgehog release. The game kind of bypassed me when it was initially released.

There isn't much of a story, the game starts with Sonic and his friends celebrating his birthday, before a monster simply known as 'The Time Eater' appears and scatters them across different time portals. Eventually leading to two Sonic's appearing with one another, the classic, slightly chubby one from the old 16 bit days. And the new, much thinner, and sleeker modern Sonic.

In truth the story is very weak, but hey, this is a Sonic game after all, and it isn't the heart of the game.


There are nine stages in total, each of them with two acts split between the classic and modern Sonic. The stages are all remakes of Sonic stages from previous games, ranging from The Green Hill Zone in the first Sonic to Rooftop run from 'Unleashed'.

The classic Sonic's levels play in a similar vein to the old 2D Genesis games, with the combination of speed runs and platform to platform sections, but in a much more frantic way. The modern Sonic levels are by and large 3D, it plays in a similar way to the Adventures and Unleashed games, with some brief moments where it changes to 2D. Both have the trademark loop the loop sections.

They progressively get more challenging the further you advance, but by and large they are all very fun, and like the classic games, you'll be returning to them over and over, they never get boring. My personal favourite is City Escape, which was taken from 'Sonic Adventure 2'. The soundtrack, the San Francisco setting, the stampede truck, it is without doubt my favourite level in the entire franchise. You simply have to play it to really understand how great it is.

I personally prefer the classic Sonic gameplay, not only does it require a little more skill, but it perfectly encapsulates the best memories of Sonic so perfectly. The environments can also be taken in more, and it's the environments in the game that are truly breathtaking, and some of the best I have ever seen. The colour palette is strikingly colourful and very cartoony, this is what a Sonic game should have always looked like. The stages are also packed full of breakable objects and power up items, everything feels so alive and busy.

Sonic games have always been known for their excellent music, and Generations doesn't disappoint, for example, reliving the theme from Green Hill Zone will bring tingles down your spine. Sonic controls well, even when you play as modern Sonic in the 3D stages, on the whole it's easy to control the character. Playing the classic Sonic stages can be jarring at first, with the screen so colourful and busy at times, it can be hard to adjust when to jump at certain points, and it can also be hard to see enemies on screen. But these are only minor negatives that you'll overcome.

Other slight negatives are the stages themselves, the latter three stages are a mixed bag, partly because they are remastered from the most recent Sonic games, which were not all very good. Considering that this is essentially a greatest hits game, I was surprised at some of the stages picked for the game, largelbecause so many of them are urban/city themed. Take Crisis City from 'Sonic 06', which I never played but is regarded as one of the worst ever in the spiky hedgehog's catalogue, surely they could have diversified it a little.


Overall the game is relatively easy, it's only the last couple of stages that will leave you losing consecutive lives at once. The main game is also pretty short, but there is plenty of replay value, the stages are fun so you'll want to re-play them many times over. As well as that, once you've completed the two acts of each stage, challenge portals are opened up where you have to do different tasks within the stage (such as completing the level in a certain amount of time, collecting a certain amount of rings, etc).

It's easy to forget that platform games were usually THE marquee games back in the day. Outside of Mario and Sonic, they're few and far between now. Not only is 'Sonic Generations' a reminder of the blue hedgehog's golden days, but also a reminder of how much fun video games should be, and what platform games ought to be.

If you're a Sonic fan and like me, this game bypassed you when it was originally released, then this is an essential purchase. If you love video games which are just fun and easy to pick up and play, then 'Generations is for you'.

Verdict- 8.5/10

       

Resient Evil 0: retrospective review

* Along with Sonic the Hedgehog, Resident Evil is my favourite video game franchise, so not that long ago I wrote two overviews of the Resident Evil series, I have already written full reviews of number 6 and Revelations. But looking back, I don't think an overview really justifies the series. So starting with Resident Evil 0, I will review all of the main canonical games that I have completed, not necessarily in canonical order. All of these games I own on the Gamecube.
As I stated earlier, you can read my Resident Evil 6, and Revelations reviews in old posts on my blog.

Resident Evil 0



Originally an exclusive for the Nintendo 64, until it was pushed back for a November 2002 release on the Nintendo Gamecube. RE0 came out at a time when the franchise was beginning to feel a little tired, and in need of re-imagining.

Plot: 

Set before the Spencer Mansion incident in the first Resident Evil. Bravo team of the STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) are sent to investigate the cannibalistic murders in the Arklay mountains outside of Raccoon city. Their helicopter's engine fails on their way, where they find themselves stranded in a dark forest. While investigating their surroundings they come across a crashed military police transporter, where everyone is dead except for missing convict Billy Coen. They go in search of him, which leads Rebecca Chambers to the inside of an abandoned train infested with zombies.

Gameplay: 

With a few added dynamics, the gameplay uses the same engine as the classic Resident Evil games, with the CCTVesque camera angles and the tank controls. A number of these changes are the disappearance of the item box, which allows you to leave items where ever you want, and switching between two characters at one time.

Some of these changes work better than others, I don't think getting rid of the item box was a good one, it takes away a charming essence to the Resident Evil franchise for no good reason. A fair point could be made that no item box is needed now that you have two characters you can control, with their own separate item slots, but it only causes unnecessary backtracking.
However, the co-op element to the game works really well between the lead characters Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen, it adds a unique twist to the gameplay compared with the Resident Evil games that came before it, without making the experience unfamiliar.

Locations: 

The game begins on a train, which is still one of the best locations in the entire franchise, and at the time of the game's release, it was a setting which hadn't really been seen either. But it doesn't last for long enough, and in the end it feels a little underwhelming. Which is the best way to describe most of the game's locations. The train aside, the rest of the locations are bland and unoriginal, and all look familiar. You have labs, a church, and a mansion. There's nothing wrong with these locations if you make them different but this game doesn't.
Although a revisit to a RE2 location is nice for nostalgic purposes.



Enemies:

The infected zombies return, not only do they look good in the train section but they're also challenging due to the narrow layout. The boss battles are pretty special, the final Queen Leech is up there as one of the best all time, and you have to strategically kill it, unlike most boss battles in the early RE games. The rest of the enemies in the game, like the locations, are pretty bland and generic, the creators seemed to have gone down the realistic route, with the enemies based on animals such as a giant bats, dogs and various insects. Which is understandable when you consider that this is the beginning of the virus outbreaks, when the effect of the T-virus was in its early stages, and before it infected Raccoon city, and beyond.

However, one new enemy is a delight, the eliminators (monkeys) lunge at you mid air, and they attack you in packs. But one blast of the shotgun does the trick.

Weapons:

The usual RE weapons are in the game, the magnum and the shotgun are still the most affective. With the new Molotov cocktails a useful addition, but are only affective and designed to kill one specific enemy. But for some reason Capcom decided to make the Shotgun and the Grenade launcher take up two blocks on your item select menu, which means that you really do have to prioritise the items you carry around with you, so expect a lot of backtracking.


Difficulty:

RE0, on the whole, is one of the easiest in the franchise, I would say that it's harder than 3 but easier than 2. None of the enemies are particularly difficult, with two discs, the length of the game clocks in at the usual 3-5 hours for an RE game, depending on how experienced you are. There are a couple of puzzles which are hard, and require a little bit of thinking, but that's about it.

Replay value:

To its credit, RE0 has plenty of extra replay value, when you complete the game you get the 'leech Hunter' mode. In which you have to collect as many leeches as possible under a certain time frame, without dying from the monsters you come across. The rewards you receive depend on how many you're able to collect.
Of all the central Resident Evil story modes, along with 6, this is the one I return to the least. In part due to it being one of the weakest, but also because it lacks anything that makes it really stand-out. it's not scary, the design is generic, it all just feels a bit 'meh'.

Verdict:

While it was a good idea to explore what happened before the mansion experience, RE0 feels like a missed opportunity, although you get to play as Rebecca Chambers, the rest of Bravo team could have been included in the story much better. Although this is only a nitpicking point, it's also hard to believe that the monster killing Rebecca Chambers in this game is the same docile Rebecca we see in RE1 (remake).

If you love Resident Evil, the chances are you'll at least like this game, and it is certainly worth having in your collection. But if you're not a fan, then there is nothing new here that will convert you.

Despite its few flaws, RE0 is a good game and one I would have certainly gave a better score if I'd wrote this review when it first came out. But compared to other games in the franchise, it's up there as one of the weakest.

7/10















     

Guardians of the Galaxy: Review

Director: James Gunn
Running time: 2 hours and 2 minutes
Certificate: 12A


Guardians of the Galaxy was supposed to have been a big risk for Marvel, outside of the hardcore comic book circles, it was largely unknown, not even me a casual Marvel fan had ever heard of it. But with an opening North America box office of $94 million, it looks like the risk has paid off big time.

There is a lot to admire in the film, and although there is obvious tonal similarities in its final act, it is certainly different to any other film adapted from the Marvel catalogue.

After visiting his dying mother, a young Peter Quill is abducted by Space Pirates called the 'Ravagers', led by Yondu. Twenty six years later, Quill (Chris Patt) gets his hands on a powerful and mysterious orb, because of this he is now the target of the main Villain Ronan the Accuser, who sends assassin Gamora (Zoe Saldana) to retrieve it. And with a bounty on his head, Groot (voiced by Vin Diesel) and Rocket (voiced by Bradley Cooper) see it as too high a price to turn down. Through various scenarios in the story, they meet up with Drax (Dave Bautista) in a prison, and from there they team up to stop Ronan from destroying the world.

From the moment you see Chris Pratt dancing to Redbone's 'come and get your love' on the planet Morag, you know this film is going to be fun, and to its credit, it does try its very best to be fun and colourful. In a very retro way, it's a reminder that Science Fiction films can be fun, when so few modern ones are.

Let's begin with the good stuff. The visuals in the film are beautiful, the galaxy in which the film takes place is certainly breathtaking, and every inch of it oozes off of the screen.

The characters are unique and work well, because of their own personal flaws they all begin as anti-heroes, so they are a little bit more relatable compared with your typical superheroes.. Chris Pratt plays the everyday out of luck, charming rogue, satisfyingly. Bautista is surprisingly okay as Drax when you consider that he has very little on-screen acting experience. But the star of the show is Rocket, the sharp tongued little raccoon has been superbly animated, and brought to life by Bradley Cooper. Without his electric presence the film wouldn't be anywhere near as good.
The chemistry between the four of them is sublime, in both the moments of comedy and the more dramatic/serious scenes.

The action scenes are entertaining, at least the shooting and hand to hand combat scenes are. The best example of this is a prison escape plot point. Not only is it exciting but we get to see all of the individual qualities that each character brings to the team.

I love the mix of 70s and 80s soundtrack, certainly my kind of music. Gives the film a nostalgic but fun feel to it.

But the film does have problems, which I think have been kind of brushed over by the mainstream critics.

The film is very contrived, and yes I know this is based on a comic book. But the story progresses by stuff just happening, action scenes prodded in from nowhere, and locations are visited and left far too quickly. There really isn't much of a narrative structure at all.

Some of the action scenes are too busy and tipping on the edge of boringness. This isn't helped when the editing can be very choppy, too often the camera would too hastily change from one character's scene to another, this is only ever noticeable in the last act of the film.

From his introduction you would have been fooled to think that Ronan was going to be a powerful and intimidating villain, but he quickly becomes cliched and forgettable. While his motivations are explained, they're never really explored. And because Thanos (one of the most bad arse villains in the Marvel universe, for those who didn't know), is lurking in the background, his stature is further diminished because it becomes obvious that he is just a piece of meat waiting to be slaughtered.

Verdict

Guardians of the Galaxy is not only a fun blockbuster, but on the whole, a technically well made film. It continues Marvel's consistently good library of films that its made over the last six years or so. The positives far outweigh the negatives, which aren't themselves too drastic. I would put this in the top five of my Marvel studios films.

3.5/5