Pulp Fiction, Apocalypse Now and Taxi Driver

I thought there was no point doing three separate posts as I pretty much watched these movies back to back to save time. I have one more film to watch tonight and it will probably be Fight Club which I will review separately.

Blade Runner

I’ve never seen the last 10 minutes of this film! I’ve seen the rest a couple of times but never the ending, how weird! Anyways, I watched this with my dad as this is one of his favourite movies and its nice to watch a movie with someone who loves it. I think I don’t love it as much as my dad because of the time difference and I’ve been completely spoilt with sci-fi/CGI movies that I wasn’t impressed by it. Well, I say that but I can appreciate that back then [1982] it was pretty amazing and, actually, I was impressed by the landscape parts, where we see the ruin that is now LA. It does make you wonder whether we’ll all be living in constant smog and rain in 9 years time [the film is set in 2019].

Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Wow, I thought I’d seen all the Star Wars but it looks like I forgot the main one >.< I’ll be honest, most of my notes are identical to the ones I wrote for the Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. So I’d go back and read that and then come back here for the news ones;

I have to keep reminding myself that this is the first of the Star Wars movies and therefore everything seen has never been seen or explained before. So the first shot being of space and then a massive spaceship flies across the screen, clearing in war with another ship, is pretty amazing. I can just imagine people going ‘woooow’! it’s a pretty awe-inspiring first shot.

I’m sorry, I’m sorry, but throughout this film I kept thinking of the Family Guy movie, Blue Harvest, which is a complete parody of New Hope. I kept giggling at moments I wasn’t supposed to because I kept getting reminded of Stewie as Darth Vader talking about why there should be a flaw in the design plan of the Death Star.

I think Princess Leia’s costume and hair is world-known. I think if someone dressed up in her costume, everyone would know it was from Star Wars.

Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

It was awesome then and its still awesome now. I haven’t actually seen this movie the whole way through, I think I’ve always managed to miss the first 15-30 minutes.

Its got two of the most recognizable music scores ever, the theme tune [Main Title] and The Imperial March [Darth Vader’s Theme]. You hear them anywhere and you know its Star Wars. That’s an achievement on its own.

The make-up and costume are fantastic and old school and just work perfectly, so much better than CGI [especially Yoda, I hate that he is CGI for the ‘first’ 3]. Then you have THAT costume that Princess Leia wears which made nerdy boys everywhere incredibly happy. Dad says that Carrie Fisher went to the gym for 9 months to be fit for that costume! And she looks fantastic.

Its great that it goes straight into the action because, lets be honest, everyone knows the basic storyline even if they don’t know the character’s names. However, I suppose it also helps with the little explanation at the beginning which is equally as famous as the music.

Han Solo. He’s just awesome. And, as Family Guy said, his is the only career that wasn’t ruined by Star Wars. I prefer him to Luke.

GHOST!Obi-Wan is also awesome. As much as I love Ewan McGregor, Alec Guinness beats him hands down. He can just stand there and you’d totally get your money’s worth. Anyways, I wonder if Harry Potter’s parents and stuff will look like that in the next Potter movies. I’d love that!

Me and dad, who I watched the whole thing with, agreed that if either of us turned evil, we’d kill the other one.

The Death Star just followed British actors opening doors and going “oh, I’m- oh.” “What is it Lieutenant Sebastian?” “Its just the Rebels, sir… They’re here.” “My God, man!… Do they want tea?” “No, I think they’re after something more than that, sir… I don’t know what it is but they’ve brought a flag.” “Damn, that’s dash cunning of them… ah, Lord Vader.” – Eddie Izzard. And its true! My dad spent a majority of the film pointing at the screen going “he’s English… he’s English… I’m pretty sure he’s English… he’s English…” then we found out Chewbacca was also British which made us chuckle.

Sorry, quoting my dad a bit here but whatever. He pointed out that Leia was the first ‘action girl’! That’s pretty cool because she’s the perfect action girl. She manages to stay feminine whilst kicking ass, unlike Lara Croft who just kicks ass.

THE TEDDY BEARS ARE SO CUTE! OK, OK, they’re not teddy bears, they’re Ewoks but they’re practically teddy bears but who know how to do some cunning fighting.

I love that Ian McDiarmid, who plays Emperor Paltine [the Dark Lord of the Sith], is still him in the recent films! He’s just so amazing, no one could play that role but him, he’s fantastic.

So there, if you haven’t seen it, or only seen parts or are a fan of Eddie Izzard’s skit then watch it. Its such a classic.

133/212

Kate
xoxo

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

I have never seen this film the whole way through, shocking I know. Suppose it’s a good thing if I watch and review films I’ve never seen before.

With this film, I found myself thinking four things; “What the hell?!”, “SHUT THE HELL UP!”, that scenes were made specifically for a reason that had nothing to do with the storyline and “SHUT THE HELL UP!”. If you are to watch this, be prepared to think these thoughts too.

It’s a great film, classic Indiana Jones and example of the adventure genre but I found myself poking fun at it and pointing out the bad parts more than actually enjoying it. Don’t get me wrong, I can see why its in Empire’s top 500 films of all time but how it got so high I don’t know. My guess [and opinion] is that it was due to the fantastic sets and scenery and the gorgeous costumes. And Harrison Ford. Shirtless. Sorry, I promise that’s the only time I’ll mention him. Shirtless.

Anyways, the opening gave me the need to double check the DVD as I found myself wondering whether Netflix had sent me The Producers instead of Temple of Doom. Then you see the sleeve of a white jacket and think “James Bond in The Producers?!”. But no, its Indiana Jones and he’s exchanging artifacts and it slowly starts to feel like an adventure film again. Indiana gets poisoned, there’s a big fight with pink balloons and diamonds. It was such a pretty fight.

Then stuff happens and we are introduced to the world’s most annoying child ever! If you loved Short Round, fair enough, I can see why. But me, on the other hand, hoped the kid would be hurt in some way. You’ve got to understand that I love kids, I really do, I think they can be great in movies but they buggered this one up! He’s supposed to be cute but I wanted to throw something hard at him.

However, the Most Annoying Person In This Film award doesn’t go to the kid. It goes to Lady Scream-a-Lot; Willie. Bloody hell. I’ve never heard more screaming in my entire life. Us girls don’t scream at everything! Not even the Disney Princesses scream that much and they’re the weakest of them all! I felt her constant screaming was unnecessary and brought the film down slightly.

Moving on… the palace set was beautiful, as where all the Indian costumes and accessories, especially on Willie [the only thing she was good for]. The food was awesomely gross, especially the baby snakes and the monkey brains. Sorry, FROZEN monkey brains. Apparently if you freeze them, that makes it a desert. Yum. Then came the BST; Bipolar Sexual Tension. They hate each other one moment, then love each other the next. Even Sandra Bullock films do sexual tension better than these guys did! It was unbelievable which made me roll my eyes and mutter “just get on with it”.

We have the classic scenes of spikes in the floor and ceiling which seemed to of stopped at some point as by the time Willie had pressed the release button, the spikes would have been through Indiana and Short hours ago. Then there were the bugs which could have been creepier but I loved that there were no spiders. Thank you! Hate spiders. Ergh.

Then there was the horrible child slavery! Very well shot as I could feel the heat from here and I wanted to run through the screen and help the poor children! Like I said before, I love children so I found it hard to watch but in a good way, if that makes sense. And when they were finally set free and ran to their families, I was almost crying! The way the parents ran towards their children, crying our their names, it was so touching. One thing that made me laugh though was the name of the badguys that held the children captive; Thuggee. I don’t know whether its their accents or what but it sounded to me like “Tuggies” which just sounds adorable.

I loved the set of the sacrifice scenes. Though there was one problem with the last sacrifice scene. When Willie was about to go into the lava or whatever it was, I found myself going “NOO! She can’t die! I know she’s annoying but don’t kill her!” But then she screamed. “Oh, yeah, now I remember why I hated her. Go ahead. Please. End my ear’s pain.” There was something else about that scene but I won’t mention it. Because if I did, it would be just plain girly of me. And not professional. And I’ve already mentioned it. Shirtless.

However, there was one thing that I really liked. When Indiana is in that trance/spell thing after he drank the blood, we all assume that Willie, the love interest, will get him out of the trance. I love the fact that was friendship that brought him back, not love. Must have been a kick in the balls for Willie which makes me happy.

I feel that the [now famous] mine cart chase was put into the film just so it could be turned into a theme park ride. It looked like loads of fun and I felt myself leaning left and right slightly as I watched the cart turn around fast corners. Oh well, it worked anyways! could have been shorter as I think that in real life they’d of ended up in Russia.

In conclusion, it’s a good, classic adventure film but you will find yourself picking at it. Oh, and Willie has bipolar.

2/212

Kate
xoxo