Manhattan

Number 236

Day 38

The 1979 Woody Allen film was 236. Now as i was seating down to watch this i realized that i dislike woody allen films. I did realize however that i had to watch this with a open mind and i did try. I had seen Woody Allen films when i was a teenager and hated them , i was thinking maybe that cause i was young i did not get them. 

So has been older made me like woody better ? ah no , i found this film the worst i seen on the list so far. I looked up the Genre of this, "romantic" well yes it was romantic i give it that , "Drama" well there was drama in it but it was not very  dramatic and last "comedy" well there was a few good jokes in this but a lot of jokes fell flat. I don't think the word yuppy was used in 1979 but that what all the characters  in the film where , it reminded me of sex in the city in the way , i found them very condescending and i found this film very condescending. I had build up no relationship with the characters  and i could not have cared less what happened to them in the end of the film. I spend this flim looking at the run time and counting down how long i left. Worst hour and half i spend in a while. Woody just likes to talk and talk and talk and push as much dialog into a sense as possible, Something less is more. 

Beauty and the Beast

Number 237

Day 37

Number 237 was the 1991 cartoon Beauty and the Beast. I had never seen this before and having seen clips before and watching this you would think its way older than 21 years, I not sure does it look so outdated cause of Pixar or what. 

Well it was a enjoyable film that made me smile in parts , one of my guilty pleasures in life is Musicals. I do love films and music so when  they are put together, i do enjoy. So this made me like this film, its got a good story and good songs. However there a lot of flaws with this, the falling in love with them both happened very easy, a bit more development on that would have been better. Also the end was not the best , i think it needed a song to wrap it all up :). 

This was enjoyable but i don't think its deserving of been in the top 250. 

Magnolia

Number 238

Day 32

Number 238 was the 1999 hit Magnolia. This is a Film that i would never have watched if it was not for this challenge. The reason holds no logic but that's my brain for you. The reason is the name , Magnolia to me is a female color, Black , Blue, Green, red  these are all male colors, Magnolia , terracotta, royal blue , Light Peachblossom , these are all females color , this film is called after a female color therefore this film is a women's film or a chick flick / rom com.  

However i was very wrong , this was a superb story that was excellent directed. The story was great as where the characters but what made this brilliant was the direction. clever camera angles , moving with characters to take you to a different scene and a great score made it great. There is loads of main characters in this film , that are all linked , some in a strong way others not so. We watch them all develop over a 24 hour period. 

Some good films, the pace really picks up the last half hour giving you a roller coaster ride that keep you on the edge of your seat. This film gave you that from the very start which really sets the tone, because there so many main characters they can move around very fast to them all , there a lot of short scene  which works really well. after half a hour it slows down a bit and then after another 20 mins it seems to pick up flying along for over half a hour if not more.The ending mite have done with a few more loses ends been tied up but it was still a very good ending. I really loved this film , i think i was total taken aback to how good it was but the most outrageous part of all was the frog scene, I wont spoil it but i was what the hell , but it worked. I was surprised and shocked to see that the run time for this was over 3 hours long. i could not believe this and it did not seem that at all which must be a good sign. 

Not only was this the best film that i have seen on the list it was the best film i had seen in a long time. there a slight possibly that all the rest of the 237 films are going to be better than this , but i don't thing that even possible. I do believe that this should be higher up on the list. One thing i am sure of is i don't think i was able to put into words in this blog how brilliant this film was. 

Come and See

Number 239

Day 31

Well this was the film i think i was not meant to see. This is a Russian 1985 film set in world war 2 about a young boy who wants to join the army to fight the Germans out of his country but  see things that sends him mad. 

I Downloaded this as i normally  do but after Anatomy of a Murder i double checked the running time to make sure the full film was downloaded. I "read" that the run time was 1 hour and 13 mins and the download was 1 hour and 3 mins. Feck ! so i downloaded it from a different link but it was still 1 hour 3 mins, with this not been a popular film there was not many links, so option where not many. I checked You tube as i have watched some there but alas it was not there. So my only hope is that they cut out the credits and that why there 10 mins short. 

So off i go and watch the film, The first 20 mins i was not really getting into it and was thinking if this ends before the end i wont be too upset. however i started to get into it more and was enjoying it. This was very weird with a capital W, but some how it worked. It shows what a real war would be like and not glamourising it . It very shocking and graphic but not in a sexy quentin tarantino way, but in a real way. At one stage he went back to his home town to find his family, he could not find them and speed time at home  looking for them. after a while they span out and we see about 100 bodies piled up, very visual , very well done and very powerful. 

After a while when i was starting to get into it i was thinking this is on a while and the end seems far away. i checked the timers 50 mins gone , this does not seem right so check run time again on IMDB and its 2 hours and 13 mins , double feck! I was really starting to enjoy it . I had to resign to the fact that i will not able to see  the end at this stage. Pity really as i was enjoying it but c'est la vie. 

Monsters INC 

Number 240

Day 28

This was the second film from Pixar  that i watched so far in this challenge. This was made 2001 with voicing from John Goodman and Billy Crystal. It was a interesting film with a very good concept , however i found it terribly predicable , i knew how they where going to sort the energy crisis very early on, why it took John Goodman so long god only knows. I know its only a kids cartoon but that no excuse. 

Judging this with the last  Pixar  film i seen its a poor second, there is some funny moments and a bit of excitement but that about it. Its a enjoyable 91 mins but it does not deserve its place in the top 250.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind

Number 241

Day 27

After seeing two brilliant films i looked at the list  to see what was offering next, to my dismay it was a 1984 Japanese cartoon. As i said before i have a dislike to Japanese cartoons scene my childhood having to watch rubbish ones. Even though ,my 3rd film was one and i liked it i was still not looking forward to this. 

Well 30 mins in i was bored and  not enjoying it at all. I did think to my self i have to try my best to enjoy it or it never work. It was dubbed into English and Patrick steward was doing one of the voices that did not really help. I could not stop thinking of  Avery Bullock from america dad when i heard him. the only thing that was keeping me going in the first 30 mins was admiring how sexy the female lead looked. even though its a cartoon she was still dam hot. 

Then after 30 mins everything changed. The lead sexy female role nausicaa was a princess who father was bed ridden. The bad guys came in and killed him. from then on the film picked up the pace and got very interesting . From then on it had a fast paced drama filled gripping story. It really was the edge of your seat stuff. The score was very good and very weird at the same time. 90% of the time it was very good the rest of the time it was more weird than normal.

When i started this challenge i taught i would get to see some classics that i had not got around to seeing and re-seeing good films that i  had seen, but now that i am doing the challenge its making me watch films i never would think of watching. this was one of them and i really enjoyed it. The only downside to this challenge i seen 10 films in 27 days , i really need to pick up the pace. 

Big Fish

Number 242

Day 26

Number 242 is the 2003 film,  Big Fish. I had seen this one before so it was my second viewing. I did learn something new this time though, i had not realized it was a Tim Burton film. Even though its brillently quirky and its got Helena Bonham Carter in it , Its not as outrageous as his other work. 

Its a very warm heart felt flick that brilliant in its madness but is also very moving in the way the story is told.  This is the first film in the list that put a lump in my throat , all though to be fair i findit very easy to get emotional watching anything . The Story is about a father on his death bed that likes to tell stories about his life. His son sick of hearing these  exaggerate stories wants to find his real dad. We and his son latter learns that not all his stories are made up and there is some truth in them. I really enjoyed this both the first time and this time. It does not  conform to the normal film rules and is very inventive and imaginative which is very refreshing to watch. 

This challenge is picking up , two good films in a row , lets have a look at what next ? O FFS its another japanese cartoon! Ah well on wards and upwards.