Star Wars...

I'm old enough to remember the arrival of Star Wars first time round. I can remember some of the reviews that pointed out how much George Lucas had borrowed/ripped off (make your own choice) from classic science fiction, as well as the one that pointed out that doctor Who (in his Tom Baker incarnation) would have simply flown the Tardis into the Death Star and destroyed it in several episodes.

in subsequent years I'd picked up on the way Star Wars borrowed from other film genres, especially Casablanca, but the following article gives a much more comprehensive list:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars--a-new-hope/movies-influences-george-lucas/

However despite all this I'm still going to see the latest instalment when it arrives in the cinema....

The Love Punch

After the sublime Casablanca we screened The Love Punch as our last show before Christmas.

It caught the zeitgeist with the corporate raid and the loss of pensions as the raison d'etre for the plot, the cast were excellent and despite it being obvious from the first scene how it was going to end on the whole I enjoyed it.

Here are my notes:

The Love Punch

UK 2013                      94 minutes

Director:                      Joel Hopkins

Starring:                        Pierce Brosnan, Emma Thompson, Timothy Spall, Celia Imrie

“It really is completely absurd, and yet writer-director Hopkins carries it along at a canter... The accomplished cast do their considerable best. Likable fun.”

Peter Bradshaw

Despite their divorce Richard (Pierce Brosnan) and Kate (Emma Thompson) have an amicable relationship.  Richard is about to retire and when he learns that his pension fund has been frozen as his investment company is under investigation for fraud he and Kate decide to recover the money some other way.  With the help of a friendly couple (Timothy Spall and Celia Imrie) they travel to the south of France and plan to steal the diamond that Richard’s employer had given to his girlfriend.

 

Joel Hopkins was born in London but moved to the US to study at University.  He made his name with Jump Tomorrow (2001) which received good reviews on its limited release and was nominated for two British Independent Film Awards: the Douglas Hickox award for debut filmmakers and the Award for Best Screenplay.  He also won the BAFTA Carl Foreman Award for Most Promising Newcomer.

He met Emma Thompson while he was being considered to direct Nanny McPhee (2005) for which she had written the screenplay as well as starring as the title character.  After seeing her in a play with Dustin Hoffman he was inspired to write a film that reflected their interpersonal chemistry: the resulting film Last Chance Harvey (2008) was well received by critics.

Here's the trailer:



I enjoyed Star Wars, but...

I enjoyed Star Wars and the two sequels in the original trilogy, but Doctor Who has always been my favourite sci-fi/fantasy saga - and the Doctor would have sorted out Darth Vader in two 45 minute episodes.

I'd  read about the influence of Kurosawa on the story in previous articles and had also clocked the Casablanca reference (although I'd also thought there was a little of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe in it), but this fascinating article lists ten films that influenced George Lucas:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/10817059/10-films-that-influenced-Star-Wars.html

I particularly liked the weird parallels with The Wizard of Oz - although I preferred Zardoz.

Famous Film Quotes as Charts

This is wonderful: the top 100 Film Quotes converted into charts and flow diagrams:

http://flowingdata.com/famous-movie-quotes-as-charts/

Somewhat inevitibly I like the entry for "Play it again" from Casablanca.

Top Ten Romantic Movies

The Guardian has publishe a list of the top ten romantic movies:

http://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/oct/07/top-10-romantic-movies

Casablanca, A Room with a View and  and Brief Encounter definitely get my vote. 

I'm not so sure about Hannah and her Sisters, but I suppose that not all Woody Allen's best films are romantic...

The 20 Best Films of all Time chosen by me - Part 3

And now we move on to thrillers.  Once again this is my own selection, and the only criterion is that I have to have seen any film I nominate.

1. The Lady Vanishes
I read some time last year that you could not consider yourself a serious film fan unless you had seen The Lady Vanishes.  I'd read about it many times but had never seen it - at least no consciously.  Fortunately a quick internet order remedied the deficiency: I really enjoyed it and it has an amazing vitality that belies its 1938 release date.

2. The Long Good Friday
I'd been a fan of Helen Mirren ever since O Lucky Man - I'd even watched her on Jackanory reading a story in an amazingly low cut Jacobethen dress - but this was the first time I'd seen her in a role that did justice to her talent.  Bob Hoskins is pretty good too (understatement) and the whole film really caught the zeitgeist.

3. Casablanca
I'm not sure if this is a thriller or a lovely story, but who cares.  It's a film I could see forever, and it was the film that my wife and I went to on our first date: a double bill with Play It Again Sam. We'll always have Casablanca.

4. Fargo
In our film society we try t show the best of releases, but several years ago we made an exception for Fargo - still one of the best films in a very strong field from the Coen brothers.  since I'd first seen it I'd actually visited Minnesota several times for work and recognised the accent, but fortunately all my trips were in the Spring or the Autumn.  And now I even have my own wood chipper.

5. Chinatown
I first saw this in my first year at university when I suddenly became aware of the big world of films that opened up around me. It's a brilliant homage to Hollywood of the 1940s as well as a key film of the 1970s - and several of the characters play key roles in David Thomson's brilliantly unsettling novel Suspects.

Most Romantic Film? Just play it again...

The Guardian has an article on the Time Out list of Most Romantic Films and each of its critics adds his/her own top ten:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/filmblog/2013/apr/23/most-romantic-films-poll

As ever my list would vary over time, although Casablanca will always be number one: