Platoon

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Platoon!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 59 (1986)

There seems to be a 'Big Four' of Vietnam War movies: Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, The Deer Hunter and this: Platoon. Of particular note is that the latter two have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Which is quite a feat as the Vietnam was regarded as a very unpopular war. 

Compared to the other Big Four, Platoon has the unique advantage of being director by an actual Vietnam veteran. For this I don't doubt this movie's realism, nor do I doubt it's message on the brutality and futility on the conflict. More than any other movie, this is the view from the grunt's perspective, facing death, mayhem, conflicting COs, uncertainty as to what they're doing there and struggling to keep it all together.

Okay I admit it: I'm struggling to get the words together but perhaps that is a testament to this movie's power.
I mean, any film that opens with Barber's Adagio for Strings isn't messing around...

Amadeus

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Amadeus!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 57 (1984)

Didn't have to look far for this one: It was sitting on the shelf with the rest of Kiera's DVDs.

I've heard some bad things about this movie - all of them related to the historical inaccuracies. But I, being the stickler for realism, am willing to forgive such matters. Why? Because this movie was utterly brilliant. I could commend the use of music (which is a no-brainer as this is about Mozart). I could praise the art direction and lavishness of the production. I could gush about the acting.
I could all of that but what I'll do instead is talk about the fact that this is a movie of two creative minds, the conflict between them and the creative process that wills something into being. It is fascinating to see two conflicting personalities and their work ethic along with the triumphs and failures that come with it. Indeed, the best part of the movie happens towards the end when these two personalities meet. 

Seems the Best Pictures of the eighties weren't as disappointing as I thought....

Alien: Romulus

This evening I went and saw Alien: Romulus.

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

So we have a new entrant to this franchise. A sceptic would think that this franchise has no purpose being a franchise, with a reasoning of longevity, the lessening of impact of the original, the dilution of the horror and lack of something new to say. So what can we take away from this latest instalment?

Yes it may be a rehash of the first one but that can be hardly surprising given the sizable impact the first one made. Yes there are reminders sprinkled throughout of other (and, cynically, better) Alien movies. 
But I can't hate this movie. It recognises the strengths of the franchise and works with them: The suspense, the world-building, the claustrophobia and knowing that it's what you don't see is terrifying. Get past the dull first half hour and the movie works a treat.

It does however raise the question of what is going to happen next with this franchise...

Terms of Endearment

 And this week's Friday night movie has been... Terms of Endearment!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 56 (1983)

And now I face another case of a movie with a fearsome reputation: Seems this is one of the undisputed weepies ever made. And it came from one of the people who got the Simpsons made: James L Brooks. Still I am willing to give it a shot...

So what I found is that this is a movie about a mother/daughter relationship. Granted such a scenario is completely out of my field of expertise but I was still able connect with this movie. Certainly the humour works and the emotional parts of it hit like a truck, as befitting this movie's reputation, but for me this movie works as an example of a parent/child relationship (particularly as I limp through middle age). That this movie goes against various trends is better still. 

It's a movie with red, raw heart.

Gandhi

And this week's Friday night movie has been... Gandhi!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 55 (1982)

Now this was a movie I was keen on watching: When I was in high school I read about Mahatma Gandhi and was struck by how a humble man changed the world and won independence for India from the British through non-violent methods. It was an inspiring story and I hoped to do something world-changing in my own right.....

One would think that the story of Gandhi would be well-suited for an epic movie. And Richard Attenborough thought so too, trying multiple times to get this film made over two decades. 
The end result? Attenborough went all out crafting a three hour epic, utilising thousands of extras and clearly not settling for anything less. But hey, dream projects tend to attract the most effort.
However in spite of all the historical inaccuracies and Attenborough's approach to filmmaking, this is all Ben Kingsley's show, delivering a performance that is quietly charismatic, genuine in it's approach and effectively resurrecting Mahatma himself. 

Deadpool and Wolverine

 Recently I went and saw Deadpool and Wolverine.

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

With Disney purchasing Fox, it's a no-brainer that Deadpool will be integrated into the MCU. It is equally a no-brainer that this means that the makers of the Deadpool movies will have access to some bigger toys to play with.

As for the movie itself, it's the same joke told yet again but strangely enough it has yet to grow stale. Part of the appeal for this movie is that this is pretty much an endpoint for the Fox-era of the MCU. As such, there are numerous nods to it and they work a treat.
But the real ace in the hole is of course Wolverine. Hugh Jackman slips back into the role like he never left and both Wolverine and Deadpool are fun to watch with these two personalities bouncing off one another. 

Once again, much like it's predecessors, there is a real love and real care put into this movie. That said movie is about a complete jerk is the icing on the cake.

Ordinary People

  And this week's Friday night movie has been... Ordinary People!

Original image located here. Accessed 4th November 2024

Best Picture Oscar winner no.: 53 (1980)

And now we enter the eighties.
I can't say I was looking forward to this decade as it seems to have gone down in history as one of, if not the weakest decade of Oscar Best Picture winners. Granted it is sandwiched between two heavyweight decades, the 1970s and 1990s, but between them, they have plenty of standouts - the 1980s not so much. Furthermore, it appears that if there have been complaints about the disconnect between what was popular at the box office and what was popular with the Academy voters then the 1980s may have been the starting point of it (a problem that still persists to this day).
Still I did this year long undertaking to see movies I wouldn't have normally seen and am willing to be surprised so best foot forward...

So we have Ordinary People: A film that was Robert Redford's directorial debut and which, famously, beat out Raging Bull for Best Picture. But I will argue that time has been kind to this movie for it's representation of mental illness. In recent years, mental health has become a talking point like never before and such concerns do echo those raised in this movie. Redford shows a capable hand with his directing and shows his subjects in a manner that is sympathetic & far removed from soap opera melodrama. Great acting all round too, especially from the late great Donald Sutherland.

Perhaps it is fitting that this should follow Kramer vs Kramer as both films show a collapse of the traditional family unit. Seems the era of New Hollywood wasn't prepared to leave just yet...