herbiehancock

No 156 - Saving Private Ryan Director - Steven Spielberg Saving Private Ryan is known (and really, is remembered) for one thing. One epic battle on the shores of Omaha Beach in Normandy. It is so ingrained as THE memory of the film that it eclipses everything else. I was so convinced that this was how the film truly began that I was surprised to see a little old James Ryan shuffle along to the Normandy American cemetery and Memorial. But it is old Ryan which bookends the film (indeed the fade out at the end from young Ryan to old is masterful) before we hit the full horrors of war. The opening sequence is incredible. Shaky cameras which seem to be documenting evidence rather than filming fiction, mud, blood, entrails and futility are all captured on screen. It is deliberately chaotic, the camera almost seems like an additional character as it looks around the beach trying to find moments of action to focus in on. Throughout this mess we lose track of characters and can barely hear w...

No 190 - Big Director - Penny Marshall I have been in Canada.... but I got better and I'm back back BACK. On the plane I sat through one of the most harrowing (but excellent) double bill s ever - and then found a list film amongst all the new rom com nonsense. Big.... It is a magical film (complete with Zoltar - the terrifying plaything of SATAN) - and it is a brilliant performance from Hanks who manages to be massively likable and beautifully naive throughout the whole thing. For most of the film you really believe him to be a slightly geeky 13 year old kid - and there is a small moment of toy piano tomfoolery which is not only glorious, but which has become a staple of FAO Schwartz toy shop's daily routine. It is great to watch. The magic in the film does mean you can overlook how easily Josh makes his way up the corporate ladder of business. How he can be come a company executive just by saying he likes toys... At times, he comes of as a bit simple... at other times he co...

No 331 - The Green Mile Director - Frank Darabont Saturday was the excellent Karmageddon . Which I compered. Where I got drunk and left my compere's notebook at the venue. It had my Green Mile notes in. Time to wing it. Frank Darabont seems to do quite well with Stephen King's material, especially within a prison setting. He made the excellent Shawshank Redemption and then he pulled this out the bag. Both deal with people being wrongly accused and imprisoned. Both films are slow and meandering, winding through a series of characters rater than an intense plot. The plot for The Green Mile can be explained in one sentence. A man with healing powers is sentenced to death. The rest of the film is just a series of events which happen in that setting. That seems like a weird way to describe a film, surely all films are just a series of events in a setting. But what is important about the Green Mile is that a lot of the events aren't important to the plot. There are no interweav...

No 179 - Toy Story 2 Director - John Lassiter Times are changing when it comes to children. Where Toy Story begins with a cardboard town and a toy western, Toy Story 2 begins in the vivid landscapes of space. A fully functioning, Jetpack flying, laser blasting, forcefield toting Buzz Lightyear adventuring their way to defeat the evil emperor Zurg . Only to be blasted to smithereens. Game Over. Welcome to the world of computer games. The geek in me is impressed that this is all played on a SNES (excellent graphics). This film is impressive because it continues the themes of Toy Story, but inverts the story. So, where Toy Story was about fear of rejection and Buzz realising he is less than he initially thought, Toy Story 2 continues the fear of rejection but is about Woody realising he is more than he initially thought. A collectors item. The film also continues ideas that were only slightly hinted at in the first film. Here Al's Toy Barn moves from being a fleeting advert for Bu...

No 99 - Toy Story Director - John Lasseter 100 FILMS!!! 100 BLOGS!!! Yes indeedy ... this is my 100 th film. It as taken a pitifully long time to get this far. I almost feel ashamed. But I'm trucking along at a much better pace now. We're gathering up steam and we'll hit 200 before you know it! I promise ya. My Sunday ended up being delightfully Pixar -tinted. Starting with this, their first feature film, followed by Up - which has a delightfully poignant introductory sequence followed by 90 minutes of Looney Tunes style insanity and finally a really interesting South Bank documentary on Pixar . Naturally - I'll be following it up today with Toy Story 2. Makes sense. It makes me feel disgustingly old to think that Toy Story came out 14 years ago. 14 YEARS ago. That is just strange. I remember going to see it at the cinema and the excitement of seeing the Disney logo appear in glorious CGI . My how things have changed now.... All it takes is the Disney castle to ...