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.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 5

No. 5 Best - The Desert (El Desierto) dir Christoph Behl

The world might well be oversaturated with zombie films over the last decade or so and because of this it seems to be very rare to find a zombie film that offers up anything new let alone being something to get excited about seeing. But Christoph Behl’s The Desert mostly focuses its attention on the human interaction and dynamics of their relationships rather than get too overly obsessed with the zombies of the post apocalyptic world in which the movie is set – something that made the original Romero's Dead Trilogy so fantastic and also The Walking Dead comics so enthralling; The Desert tells a failed love triangle story of Ana, Axel and Jonathan who’ve managed to hole them self up with a make shift defensive barriers keeping the zombies and other survivors at a safe distance, the films tight script makes you really connection with the characters struggle to deal with being cut off from humanity with only themselves for company, as the story unravels we see the origins of the love triangle form and later their friendship is tested to the limit with in introduction of Pythagoras (a zombie captured from one of their missions to the outside world). With a gripping story and a dirty aesthetic feel to the film, we are brought straight into this post apocalyptic world and while the film does have a controlled slower pace throughout, I wouldn’t say that there’s ever a dull moment or a lull in the interest and intrigue that we have for the main characters and by the end you feel like you’ve been on journey that looks at the challenges that humans would face during a zombie outbreak, both physically and emotionally, The Desert is a low-key affair but it delivers in all the right areas and steers well clear of the glorified Hollywood take on the genre, which ultimately pays dividends making the film one of the best Zombie films to come out in recent years.

No. 5 Worst - Hammer of the Gods dir Farren Blackburn

With the recent success on TV of shows like Game of Thrones and Vikings, the synopsis and setting of Hammer of Gods had me quite excited going into the film, especially after the Red Band Trailer hit YouTube and it all looked rather promising for a good violent romp of battle scenes and the historical Norse setting. Unfortunately within minutes of the films opening credits, my expectations and hopes where shot down dead; while the trailer looks actually pretty well done, the finished article is very bland, it’s filmed in such a manner, combined with the level of acting you’d expect to see in the daily soap operas – that the Hammer of Gods doesn’t sell to you that we are back in the age of the Norse warriors, but more like witnessing a battle re-enactment taking place in present day in some open field/moorland. Everything from the characters to the plot feels underdeveloped and executed very poorly, the violence is rendered meaningless and cheap as the story lacks any sense of cohesion and direction; The Hammer of the Gods never gets out of the starting blocks and pales in comparison to the History Channel’s series Vikings; it’s second rate of that at best and due to its lack of focus the films pacing is very sporadic and feels like it drags on a lot longer that the premise/story warrants; don’t be fooled by the Red Band Trailer like I was, strongly recommend avoiding this at all costs as I’m struggling to find any redeeming features to pick out that the film does even moderately well.

2013 Top 10 Best & Worst Films: No. 6

No.6 Best - The Selfish Giant dir Clio Barnard

A rarity for me here, a British film actually making my top 10 favourite films of a year list and while there are still the elements of British Cinema that I’ve grown to hate present in The Selfish Giant, I couldn’t help but fall in love with this movie that tells the tale of the friendship between two young outcast teenagers. It is the strong bond between the pair that has been written so delicately and with such charm and affection by Clio Barnard that really sold the film for me; Each time Connor Chapman (Arbor) and Shaun Thomas (Swifty) share the same screen space you can’t help but smile due to the wonderful chemistry that the pair seem to have together. The film has a washed out look to it, which is probably there to magnify the feeling of bleakness and despair of the working-class and whilst the approach to portraying the so called ‘Working-Class’ in British Cinema still doesn’t sit right with myself, I never felt that this was overly emphasized within The Selfish Giant, for me the film feels very similar to the works of Ken Loach. Though the films villain ‘Kitten’ a dodgy scrapyard worker, feels a little two dimensional – he is still evil to the core and utterly disgusting which really helps to give the film an extra level to the challenge for which the two young boy’s friendship is tested upon as the story develops. The film does suffer from having multiple endings and whilst I’d have much preferred the film to end a good 10-15mins prior to the credits, you can certainly see what the writer/director’s thought process was for their choice in ending; overall though the film is laugh out loud funny, charming and at times harrowing and a shining light that British Cinema has been lacking for so many years.

No. 6 Worst - Blue Jasmine dir Woody Allen

Now I’ve seen that Blue Jasmine has featured on many critics lists as being one of the best films of 2013 and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this film do extremely well going into the Awards season, but I for one am calling ‘bullshit’ on this; since when did so many critics out there become blinkered ‘fanboys’ of any director’s work, willing to lay down lauds of praise onto a film that is just outright awful. I think it’s very telling that all the positive talk for Blue Jasmine begins with the performance of Cate Blanchett; give credit where credit is due, I’ll admit that she does perform wonders on screen within her role, but that doesn’t cover up the fact that the script/screenplay is one of the worst I’ve seen play out on the big screen in quite a few years. Blue Jasmine is chock full of underdeveloped caricatured working class characters for which I find Woody Allen’s lazy and neglectful incompetence research at how the ‘working class’ actually live and behave to really be rather offensive; the character of Jasmine is also one of the most hideous human beings in film for a number of years and while it’s not impossible to connect with negative/bad characters in film, it’s not possible in Blue Jasmine purely down to how badly this film is written, its totally unbelievable and laugh out loud preposterous in terms of the way characters act and talk,  and after only a short time the film left my head pounding with anger at how amateurish this film felt. The screenshot of Jasmine above really depicts quite well my state whilst enduring such a bloated and ill-advised film Woody Allen has directed this year. To say that I hated this film wouldn’t be an understatement at all, this is one of those films that I really regretted watching and certainly will not be viewing again any time soon, in fact ever.