2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 2

No. 2 Best - Blackfish dir Gabriela Cowperthwaite

This documentary’s core story is the one of the notorious Killer Whale Tilikum, one of SeaWorld’s biggest attractions and is also responsible for the deaths of three individuals that includes one of their own highly regarded top Killer Whale trainers. The documentary not only reports and investigates the three deaths that Tilikum has been responsible for over the years, but also takes a look at the possible reasons for why these tragic events have occurred; ultimately looking at the way in which these beautiful creatures are treated once the SeaWorld parks are closed and out of sight of their paying customers. We are brought to question not only the standards in which these Whales are housed, but it also makes you the viewer question captivity in general, this is just a relentlessly emotional trip that beats hard on your heart and had me in tears on a good number of occasions, honestly even though it’s been a fair few years since I’ve visited SeaWorld; by the end of this film, I’d never felt so guilty about anything in my life as I did about my one visit to SeaWorld all those years ago.  There are many comparisons to be made to the likes of The Cove (2009) and Sharkwater (2006), but what I feel separates Cowperthwaite’s documentary from those is that, you don’t get that sense that the filmmakers behind the documentary here didn’t already have a hidden agenda when going into the making of the film; Blackfish feels more natural in its revelations and with its personal interviews with many people that these three deaths have affected, a particular harrowing moment comes when an original Whale Hunter retells his story and experience from when hunting these beautiful creatures first boomed for these companies like SeaWorld. On the surface the film is anti-SeaWorld and the negativity of captivity in general, but the documentary has so much more to offer and is guaranteed to hit you extremely hard emotionally – I don’t think it’s a case that Blackfish is necessarily a better ‘Doc’ than the likes of The Cove and Sharkwater, it just offers something different in it’s approach to tackling the issue of captivity. A must see documentary that is a real eye opener and very harrowing and one to watch with a good supply of tissues to wipe away the tears that will inevitably flow.

No. 2 Worst - Les Miserables dir Tom Hooper

I believe that I actually started the year off by going to the cinema to watch Les Mis; having been dragged along with a group of friends quite unwillingly, I’m not a person that is totally dead against the idea of musicals but in general they aren’t my ‘cup of tea’ though given the fact this was directed by Tom Hooper who directed The King’s Speech (2010) a film that a really did enjoy quite a lot, I was heading into the film quite open minded and rather interested in the over arcing story of the Les Miserables play. If you’re going to make a musical surely one of the first things you’d make sure of is that your cast are able to sing, which you can’t say for the actors here, with Russell Crowe being the main culprit – he just sounds absolutely terrible, not only that but the sound of the voice recordings don’t gel with the visuals on screen, making it feel all too disconnected. It’s not only the singing that is unbearable, but the films editing is outright horrendous, I’d imagine that the Les Miserable play is actually very interesting and has a solid story to tell, but Tom Hooper’s film doesn’t do enough to connect the dots – it jumps between characters throughout various periods of time which leaves us the audience struggling to grasp a sense of any of the characters journeys and turmoil’s – instead it’s like viewing little snapshots and highlights of a story rather than getting the whole picture, and to cap all of this off there is some rather terrible camerawork that looks very amateur. Not to mention the fact that this film is over 2 and a half hours long, which you’d think would be long enough to put together some cohesive storytelling, but with Les Miserables flittering and jumping around through time and bouncing around characters it’s an even greater failure that it fails to deliver even a mildly adequate screenplay. It sounds horrible and looks terrible and drags on for what seems like an eternity hence why Les Mis is my second worst film of 2013.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 3

No. 3 Best - The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug dir Peter Jackson

I don’t think you could find anyone better to retell the stories of Tolkien than Peter Jackson; Yes with this second part of the trilogy, Jackson has again added to the source material for cinematic purposes and I must say that given the format for which Tolkien’s book The Hobbit takes, it’s utterly justifiable to expanded upon the story for the big screen to add some gravitas to the story of Bilbo Baggins journey. This middle part of the trilogy really does feel like the big action piece of the trilogy with huge set pieces that play out including the quite spectacular barrel sequence and ending with the introduction of Smaug for the films finale. As a stand-alone film this sequel definitely feels like an improvement from its predecessor, Martin Freeman again encapsulates the essence of Bilbo Baggins with another wonderfully charming performance and there’s the outstanding voice work from Benedict Cumberbatch as Smaug who I could just listen to for hours on end, he’s so captivating in the role. The Hobbit series has of course taken a lighter tone than the Lord of the Rings trilogy and while the film does have a more family and lighter feel to the film overall, Jackson still manages to incorporate some of the darker moments that are prevalent throughout his LOTR films and certainly doesn’t feel out of place where compared directly next to the previous trilogy. The Desolation of Smaug is the brilliant thrill ride that we’d all had hoped for after the narrative driven first part and the exceptional high standards of beautiful sets, captivating score/music and compelling storytelling are all met here, whether or not The Hobbit trilogy will ultimately live up to the extraordinary high reputation of the Lord of the Rings trilogy we will just have to wait and see after Jackson has wrapped up this story, but I think it’s pretty safe to say that he has succeeded in retelling Tolkien’s The Hobbit story with the upmost respect and appreciation for the source material whilst managing to improve upon what would have existed if some other director/screenwriter had come in and just gave us a page-for-page transfer to the big screen; its very rare to see a film live up to the reputation of it’s source material let alone surpass it, but with hand on heart I can honestly say that in my opinion Peter Jackson will eventually succeed in this by the end of next year and we’ve seen his Hobbit trilogy told in full and would argue that it might not be the last time that the director visits the literary work of Tolkien. The Desolation of Smaug again brings us into the wonderful world of Middle Earth and fills you with that magical feeling that only a Peter Jackson adapting Tolkien film can truly do, these films are one of a kind and probably not likely to see anything in the near future that is able to replicate the effect of which these films have managed to do on such a large cinematic scale.

No. 3 Worst - Only God Forgives dir Nicolas Winding Refn

Yet another appearance for Ryan Gosling in my worst films of the year; this time it’s with the Nicolas Winding Refn film Only God Forgives; I couldn’t have been more excited for this film given the directors back catalogue of work and the trailer for the film, which teased just enough to spark interest and hope that Refn would return back more to his older style that featured so heavily in Valhalla Rising (2009) but unfortunately Only God Forgives makes absolutely no attempt to string together any narrative and is nothing more that shots of a bland character going from violent scene to violent scene, each time trying to up the level of grotesqueness and boy is the film aggressive, but this time where in the past the cinematography has been gorgeously bright and full of colour that oozes vibrantly off the screen; the boldness of it in Only God Forgives does nothing but to blur the imaginary and bloodshed that’s so prominent throughout the film. It’s essentially mindless violence that really has nothing interesting to say or any deep hidden meanings, the only half-baked theme that one could take from the film is the feeling of dealing with male impotency, but even that really isn’t that well executed here. As mentioned just above, Only God Forgives is a brutally violent film, but most of this is awash with a blur of red which just makes the film look utterly vile and not at all artistic – you couldn’t care less for what is happening on screen and due to it’s lack of narrative approach, all of the violent sequences carry absolutely no gravitas to them at all because what happens on screen just feels totally disjointed and unconnected; the film is a complete mess that serves nothing more than to try and push certification boundaries, over the years the horror genre has been viciously attacked for the so called ‘Torture Porn’ sub-genre, but I’d argue that Only God Forgives is a far more offensive film than all of those films combined for it’s senselessness. It might only been 90 minutes long, but it feels like a much longer experience that is pretty unbearable after only 20-25 minutes.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 4

No. 4 Best - Stoker dir Chan-wook Park

Chan-wook Park finally makes his trip across the world to direct an English-speaking language film and while in the past, for many great foreign directors this transition has proven to be rather unsuccessful, that is not the case here with Park’s Stoker. This film still contains the stunning visual use of patterns for which he has become famous for over the past few years and the plot does contain some rather awkward moments for the actors to tackle as they portray the twisted tale of a broken family with a long lost uncle returning with a hidden dark aura surrounding his every movement, its really quite surprising that this compelling and twisted script comes from Wentworth Miller (best known for his role in TV series Prison Break), there’s brilliant performances all around from the main cast; Nicole Kidman is utterly convincing in her portrayal as an unstable mother and with Mia Wasikowska in the lead role as India who delivers just the right amount of edginess to her character that really helps to bring together the complications of her relationship with her mother to the fold, but the standout performance is from Matthew Goode as Uncle Charlie; though the film is titled Stoker, this isn’t a vampire film but throughout the film Goode delivers comparable characteristics with the Bram Stoker’s Dracula character; Goode manages to convey a sense of mystery and overwhelming sense of danger whenever on screen, making Stoker an excellent character piece from start to finish. As you’d expect from a Chan-wook Park film the cinematography is stunning and is complemented with a wonderful soundtrack, but where the film really shines brightest is with the sound design which strongly evokes the atmosphere that Park is looking to deliver to the audience, the expectation of many was that in hope that the director could make the transition to America but probably not reach the heights of his previous films, and for me Park by far exceeds these expectation; as Stoker is a really strong addition to his filmography and certainly isn’t his weakest film to date by far. It might not be to the standard of OldBoy (2003) but it certainly doesn’t look out of place with the likes of Thirst (2009).

No. 4 Worst - Kick-Ass 2 dir Jeff Wadlow

Back in 2010 when Kick-Ass hit the screens – I left the cinema really pumped feeling that Matthew Vaughan had done a pretty stellar job at bringing Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass to the big screen, I did have issues with some of the changes in key dialogue, but given Nicolas Cage’s performance as Big Daddy, I couldn’t help but love the film. Though I do feel that James Gunn’s Super (2010) that also hit in the same year was actually the much better film, I still had a lot of love for Kick-Ass and was quite excited of the prospect of the upcoming sequel. As for the sequel itself; Kick-Ass 2 seems to have completely forgot what made the original such a blast and a thrill to watch from start to finish; gone is the charm and fun factor and is replaced by all out gratuitous violence with forced attempts at slapstick comedy with silly jokes. Kick-Ass 2 is unrelenting with the gore, but it all feels and looks very cheap; as if they tried to cut as many corners as possible to keep the budget down, not caring for the quality of how it looks on screen, it’s a film that is just full of set pieces that are connected by small by-the-numbers dialogue driven scenes that do nothing for the characters themselves, but rather act as a means to an end. Kick-Ass 2 is all very depressing and it’s sad to see a franchise be killed off in front of your eyes by very lazy filmmaking and extremely poor judgement. Though I do have to admit that Jim Carrey’s performance, as Colonel Stars & Stripes is absolutely fantastic, it’s hard to believe that it’s Jim Carrey in the role. For the first time in a number of years he is actually acting rather than just playing a figment of former characters that made him famous way back when and because of his utterly exceptional performance (of which I think is right up there with Nicolas Cage’s in Kick-Ass) it makes Kick-Ass 2 a much more greater disappointment that everything surrounding Carrey is utter garbage. This sequel in my mind has killed off any chance of a good franchise and if there is to be a third instalment then I can see it being nothing more than a bargain basement direct-to-DVD experience.