A Shout Out For The Underdogs

Ah, the natural order of things. The longlist of films in my previous post has barely time to settle before the culling begins. To be honest the hardest part was getting them down in the first place. Now they are there the only choice left is natural progression, and so it goes.
From a critical eye the most obvious targets for elimination would probably be ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ and ‘Saw’, the former because it is basically a progression of brilliant lines punctuated by a ridiculous plot jazzed up to appear labyrinthine and the latter due to the atrocious and seemingly endless sequels that make an art form out of the term ’diminished returns.’ But that’s not really how it works. Before the murder-by-franchising ‘Saw’ was a kick in the face for the horror genre. A plot so simple yet so clever that naturally every horror film scribe adopted the formula afterwards with some great performances (needed really as most of the film was two characters confined to one dingy room) and a final reveal that was gripping, shocking and brilliant made it deservedly a critical hit and box office success. Yes, the sequels were terrible beyond words but so were a large portion of the Rocky series and yet no one speaks ill of the opener to that franchise so no, it’s not going to be an easy throw away for me.
As for ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ I rarely have enjoyed a film so much in my entire life. Downey Jr gives a performance that got him back on the A-list and he was born to play his role. It couples a great double comeback as screenwriter/director Shane Black came out of his self imposed film exile to produce the most sizzling script Hollywood had seen in years. There is not a duff line of dialogue throughout and the plot, although silly, is irrelevant for the most part as set piece by set piece blisters at breakneck speed. Extra kudos must go to Val Kilmer for stealing the movie with a priceless performance as a gay hitman/acting coach. It has great comic acting, fantastic chemistry and is a great pimped up version of Raymond Chandler novels. So again I will find it hard to cut this one.
It’s still early days so I don’t need to cut anything as yet but if I had to be ruthless right now I’d probably opt for…ugh….The Darjeeling Limited. But that’s only because I’ve just seen Marley & Me advertised on TV. Why Owen, why??

Last Film(s) Watched:
The Bourne Ultimatum
Friday Night Lights
Downfall

Next Film(s) To Watch:
Up
Bloody Sunday
City Of God

Quite Perturbed By:
The trailer for Shutter Island. Scarily reminded me of ‘The Lake House’ in parts. I hope the final product is not as…what’s the word? Oh yes….crapola.