Chasmmi recommends a film a day for a year

[chasmmi]

July 30th - The BFG - 1989

 

 

Now I am still waiting to see the new live action version (and am still excited despite the reactions so far), but this old animated version still holds a good place in my heart. The animation feels like a true Dahl universe. the voice work is great (David Jason especially) and it is one of the more faithful adaptations of a Dahl book put to screen.

 

The level of animation is maybe not as crisp as a premium Disney affair, but it's honest and there are some great scenes. Its a nice fun lesser known animation, that also does a really good job adapting a classic children's novel.

[chasmmi]

August 1st - The Good, The Bad and the Weird - 2010

 

 

The Korean interpretation of an Italian Director's American made film based on Japanese stories... or something. 

 

Nicknamed a 'Kimchi Western', this film is one of the most accessable Korean films for a non Korean speaker to watch. There is pretty much no story: just 3 guys chasing after a map, one is good, one is bad, the other is weird. (The Korean Title sort of directly translates as: 'The Good Bastard, The Bad Bastard and the strange Bastard').

 

From the Director of The Last Stand (starring Arnie), this is a thrilling Western set in Manchuria and is high octane and fun from start to finish. Starring some of the best actors in Korea (including the genius: Song Kang Ho), it is hard not to have fun watching this film. It manages to be fresh and different while also being a quasi-reimagining of a reimagining. This could easily have been a total mess, but instead it is a great peace of fun cinema from nation more well known for its dark and unnerving films than its embracing of silliness. 

 

 

 

 

 

[SchumacherFTW]

On Friday, July 22, 2016 at 3:13 PM, chasmmi said:

July 22nd - Baseketball - 1998

 

 

Back when Parker and Stone were employed just as actors...

 

Baseketball was a fun little comedy about a couple of guys that inadvertently create America's next great sport. A mix of basketball and baseball but for unathletic people, there is a lot of silliness in this film. However there is a message to the film too and the direction that it criticises major sports for heading towards 20 years ago is generally just as relevant today.

 

Of course you need to like Parker and Stone's brand of comedy to enjoy this I suspect, but South Park, Team America et all have enough fans out there to mean that there are likely many folks out there that would enjoy this film and possible never bothered to ever see it.

 

It's worth giving a shot.

 

 

 

Haha dude this is one of my all time favourite movies. I'm a sucker for Matt and Trey, and though they always rip on it, I've always loved it. Still trying to organise a game with a few of my friends 

[chasmmi]

16 hours ago, SchumacherFTW said:

Haha dude this is one of my all time favourite movies. I'm a sucker for Matt and Trey, and though they always rip on it, I've always loved it. Still trying to organise a game with a few of my friends 

 

Tis an underrated gem it's true

 

[chasmmi]

August 2nd - Without a Paddle - 2004

 

 

It can be said that I am quite a fan of silliness and this film was quite silly.

 

A sort of parody of Deliverance, I am pretty sure that WIthout a Paddle died without a trace. Yes, this is not the best comedy ever made, but it is fun and a good way to laugh one's way through 90 minutes. Seth Green and Matthew Lilliard are not in enough films these days which is a shame, but they work well off together in this film and I do wish it had done better. 

 

Am still on vacation so the reviews and recommendations will remain on the shorter side for a week or so... 

[SchumacherFTW]

Chas, these are all soooooooooooo my kinda movies  loving this

[ttr]

July 29th - 10 Things I Hate About You

 

Before the Joker role came along, Heath Ledger was mostly known for being a pretty Australian with charisma. His career had moments where it was clear he wanted to be seen as a proper Oscar style actor (Brokeback for example), but he was also in a fair number of bad/fun films.

 

This part of his career coincided with a small period in Hollywood where remaking Shakespeare into modern teen comedies became a thing. There was a Midsummer Nights Dream inspired film starting Sisqo and there was a retelling of Taming of the Shrew which sounded pretty awful by all accounts.

 

However, it turns out that the Shrew remake actually was one of the best teen comedies of the nineties (1999 again!). The four main cast are great and the whole film is so much fun and this was Anchored by the natural charm and charisma that Ledger brought to the role. You just hope that everybody would fall in love with him.

 

If LEdger had lived another 50 years, he likely would never have topped the joker performance, but even within silliness like 10 things, it was clear that he had something special as a film presence and is still severely missed.

 

Have not seen this one, but I like Knights Tale and Casanova a lot.

[chasmmi]

34 minutes ago, ttr said:

Have not seen this one, but I like Knights Tale and Casanova a lot.

 

If you even slightly enjoy teen rom coms then 10 things will seem Excellent. It is a great example of the genre and is sweet as opposed to vulgar

[chasmmi]

August 3rd - Stargate - 1994

 

 

A received this film on video for free as part of a deal for preordering Independence Day on VHS. Does that make me old?

 

I think a lot of people have watched at least one episode of a Stargate TV show at some point, some form of the show existed in some form for about 15 years. However, these days it is possible a fair few people never saw the film that started it all (same can be said for other TV shows like Buffy I imagine too).

 

Stargate was I think the final film that Emmerich made before he learnt how to blow up the landmarks of the world and it is quite the underrated sci-fi in my opinion. The story is pretty cool and engaging and the lead roles are taken on really well by Russell and Ultron. There is the reason that the concept was able to carry eleventy-five different TV series: it was a strong concept.

 

The film is not especially CGI-heavy and so still holds up to watch pretty well today and I am kind of almost excited about the potential remake/sequel in the works. 

[chasmmi]

August 4th - Belle - 2013

 

 

A slightly newer film this time and possibly the best ever film to be inspired by a painting.

 

This film really took me by surprise when I saw it a couple of years ago. Period dramas and me have a love hate relationship in that I often love hating them. This one however was truly superb. The lead actress is astounding in her role as a noblewoman of colour in a time where such a thing did not exist and thus meant she essentially has no place in society. 

 

   The story - although highly fictionalised - is also really strong and you are engaged with characters, commending those who take a stand for what is right and reviling those who do not. Even Draco Malfoy almost looks like a decent actor in this!

 

It is a great dramatic film that made my top 5 for films of 2013 and really should be watched by a wider audience (including those that vote for Mr. Oscar it appears).

[chasmmi]

5th August - Lagaan - 2001

 

 

It's Hindi, a musical and about cricket... surely a four quadrant film right here!

 

Seriously though, this was a pretty great film. It is in my top 3 Hindi films not to star Shah Rukh Khan and actually manages to make cricket feel exciting. The production values in this are pretty great as it came out around the time that the budgets for Bollywood were starting to allow for more epic scope and grandeur in the films. 

 

Like a lot of Bollywood, this film mixes melodrama, comedy, music (of course) and more to bring a film that was a refreshing change from films about football, baseball and golf. It is still by far one of the better Bollywood films around and worth a watch for anybody who has a liking for or a curiosity for what Bollywood has to offer. The half English cast also make it a little lighter on the subtitles than most too. 

 

  

 

 

 

[chasmmi]

I am on vacation and wifi is scarce, so gonna lay catchup now. 

6th August - Evolution - 2001

 

 

There is always time for lubricant  

 

I unashamedly love this film. It is idiotic, stupid and ridiculous but everyone in the film knows that it is and they run with it. Obviously this film won't be for people that believe that a joke is only funny when it is also a metaphor for the current economic state of the Federated States of Micronesia but if you are a fan of silly then this is a great example of silly.  

 

This film also has one of the best uses of product placement that you'll see in my opinion. It is so blatant, yet also works really well within the film. To me it's a shame that this film kind of just came and went, it deserved more than that and I'm starting the evolution resurgence now! 

 

 

[chasmmi]

7th August - Mrs Brown - 1997

 

 

This was one of the first times I realised that a period drama could actually be a great film (I was about 14 when I first saw it).

 

This film was a revelation in so many ways when it came out. First there was the discovery that Billy Connolly was able to pull of a great dramatic performance. Second, Judy Dench was acting royalty, third, there are some genres of cinema that Britain could do better than America. 

 

This film is the story of Queen Victoria post the death of Prince Albert and the man that managed to reawaken her from her mourning. It is a great study of selfish motives verses selfless motives towards the same goal, the power of friendship and the fact that sometimes even royalty needs to be treated like a regular human being. The story is absorbing, the acting: terrific and just overall a forgotten classic from the nineties.   

[chasmmi]

8th August - Idle Hands - 1999

 

 

A film where Jessica Alba does what she does best: Runs around looking pretty.

 

Fun Fact: The hand scenes in this film were played by the same guy who portrayed Thing in the Addams Family. This was another film that I feel was criminally overlooked upon release (although it was released in 1999 - the king of all movie years it appears). A film about a boy whose hand gets possessed by the devil and wants to go on a murderous rampage, it is fun, silly and even at times has a couple of scares. 

 

Another film where the cast seem to have fun acting out the silliness, this film knows what it is and is proud of it. Jessica Alba possibly never looked better than in this film and there's also Zombie Seth Green which is hard not to love. I really recommend giving this a try if you are a fan of the under-represented Comedy-horror genre.    

 

 

[chasmmi]

9th August - Who Framed Roger Rabbit - 1988

 

 

It's amazing I was ever allowed to watch this as a kid.

 

I feel like this is the definition of a film that everyone has heard of, assumes was probably great for its time, but if they are under 27, maybe never go round to seeing. If you are one of those people then fix that situation immediately!  This film is a riot and Bob Hoskins was never better than he was here acting against nothing whatsoever. 

 

The animation is awesome for its time and even the gimmick of seeing multiple studio characters together in one film makes the film worth seeing for the occasion and novelty of it all. Of course Jessica Rabbit is also there being all Jessica Rabbit-y if that helps sway the decision to watch or not to watch. 

 

FInally, Christopher Lloyd steals every scene he is in with an over the top freaky performance that just stayed on the right side of scarring me for life with the dark craziness of the character. This is yet another installment in the pantheon of 80s kids films that no kid should ever have seen that should be watched again and again and again.  

 

 

 

 

[chasmmi]

10th August - Mystery Men - 1999

 

 

It's 1999 again.

 

Remember when Ben Stiller was consistently funny? Was good times wasn't it? Mystery Men was a film about 15 years ahead of its time. Not in some sort of groundbreaking cinema kind of way, just in the sense that I really believe that i this film came out today thrown in between all the serious comic book stuff, it was have been more fondly remembered than it is. 

 

To me, this film is the Galaxy Quest of superhero films. It is witty, silly and yet gives you some characters that you want to root for. Stiller is great in the lead and William H Macy steals multiple scenes as The Shoveller.

 

The film is a lot of fun and deserved a bigger audience. 

[chasmmi]

11 August -A Few Good Men - 1992

 

 

One of the best lines ever?

 

I've already talked about A time to Kill as a great nineties courtroom drama, but here is another one and another film that makes me wish that Cruise would return to dramas every now and again as he is so good in this. 

 

This film is arguably more famous for one scene than it is for the movie as a whole and obviously when you have Jack Nicholson atthe top of his game it is going t be memorable. However the film is more than one cool scene, the whole drama both in and out of the courtroom is gripping and a good job is done to give both the good and the bad guys reasons for doing what they did. 

 

It is a great film and hopefully most of you can handle it. 

[chasmmi]

12 August - Hook - 1991

 

 

What can I say, I even liked last year's Pan...

 

This film is often seen as one of Spielberg's directorial misfires but I have never quite understood why. I men sure up against Jurassic Park or Schindler's List it obviously struggles to compare, but it is still a pretty damn magical film. Robin Williams is a great Peter Pan and an obvious choice to play the boy who never grew up.

 

The sets and world are beautiful, Hoffman and Hoskins ham up the Hook and Schmee roles to great entertainment and Rufio is ... well he's god damn Rufio. To me this is one of Spielberg's most rewatchable films and deserves a little more respect (has a great score too). If you haven't seen this film, go give it a try.