My Top Ten Films of 2014

After a years absence I again bring you a list of my top films of the past year. You are welcome. Please be aware that this post will probably contain spoilers

Notable mentions

These are the films which I really enjoyed and were the closest to being in my Top Ten:

Captain America: The Winter Soldier – Now you all know (or should know by now) that I am a comic book geek. I am more of a DC guy but even taking that into account I have never been a fan of Cap. The Winter Soldier however tried to deal with the serious issues of comparing traditional American Value (not in the right wing Fox news way) with the security obsessed police state America is becoming (in between great action sequences of course)

Noah – Now this was obviously not everyone's cup of tea. However Darren Aronofsky has produced a thought provoking film which has a lot more to say about our current environmental issues and man's relation with the planet, than it does about the bible. Russell Crowe provides another powerhouse performance.

The Angriest Man In Brooklyn – Losing Robin Williams last year made me remember all the joy he had bought me through his work, and his performance in this star filled film is excellent, both funny and moving as a man, accidentally told by his doctor that he only has 90 minutes to live and trying to make the most of the time he has left.

The Lego Movie – What else can be said, a super fun film which can't help but make you smile. Also it gave us another Batman, which is always a great thing.

The Monuments Men – I have read the non-fiction book that this film was based on, and though the film cuts out a lot of historical details to make a more compact narrative I still enjoyed it. True that thematically it was all over the place, going from comedic (a lot of which was down to Bill Murray and Bob Balaban), to action to semi-melodrama, still it was a compelling story with great performances throughout. 

The Top Ten

10) John Wick
OK lets get this out of the way to begin with. I have a soft spot for Keanu Reeves. I'm not sure what it is, maybe it's because I only hear good things about him, maybe it's because he tries a wide variety of projects, or simply it might just be because he was Ted 'Theodore' Logan. No matter what it is, I was glad to see him back in a great film. The premise of the film may be a bit flimsy. Russian mob hit-man retires to get married, His wife dies leaving him a puppy, a couple of hoods kill said puppy, Russian mob hit-man, kills pretty much everyone seeking revenge. It's not the story so much that makes this film top ten worthy but the the world that it creates with it's organised underworld full of unwritten codes and of course the excellent Gun-Fu. Here's hoping for a sequel.

9) What We Do In The Shadows
A brilliant comedy mockumentary film from New Zealand about a bunch of vampire house mates of different ages (8000, 862, 379 and 183) living in modern day Wellington in the build up for The Unholy Masquerade a get together of vampires, witches, zombies etc. Into their strangely ordered post-lives comes the chaos of a newly sired vampire who is more in tune with modern life then the older quartet.

8) The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared
An adaptation of the best selling Swedish novel, this film runs two stories in parallel, it follows the adventure of Allan Karlsson after he escapes his retirement home on his 100th birthday, as well as showing the proceeding 100 years of his fascinating life where he wandered the world, affecting world history meeting and partying with world leaders. Think Forrest Gump without the exaggerated sentimentalism (sorry Tom Hanks, you were still Great)

7) The Imitation Game
Following the real life and tragic story of a true British Hero, who may not get as much recognition as he deserves. Benedict Cumberbatch portrays Alan Turing during his high successes during World War 2, and his subsequential heartbreaking fall. This is another film with fantastic performances throughout, most notably from Cumberbatch himself. 

6) Edge of Tomorrow
When I heard that Tom Cruise had been cast to be the lead in this film, I was surprised I had read the Japanese novel 'All You Need Is Kill', that the film was based on (yes I read a lot), and in the book the protagonist is a young fresh Japanese recruit (the action also takes part in Japan not Europe), which Tom Cruise is not. However I was happy with the result. The changes made in the film (including a better ending than the novel) made this an extremely enjoyable film. Tom Cruise was his usual charming self and had real chemistry with Emily Blunt, who was playing against type as a hard as nails soldier.

5) Pride
The little known story about a group of Gays and Lesbians in 1980's London who band together to support and raise money for another oppressed group, the striking Miners may not seem like it will make a feel good film, (especially if you know the outcome of the strikes themselves), however Pride does the seemingly impossible and at the end you leave feeling quite positive. Full of lots of great moments, including possibly the best dance scene in any film this year (Sorry Starlord)

4) X-Men: Days of Future Past
Bringing together the two halves of such a huge movie franchise as the X-Men would have seemed to be near impossible, especially as there were a lot of discrepancies between the original trilogy, the Wolverine films and the First First Class film. However the returning Bryan Singer, with all the major X-Men returning for this time travelling adventure which sees Wolverine being sent back from a dystopian future into his own body in the 70's to try and fix what once went wrong (yes that is a quantum Leap reference), he was able to do so and with the extra added bonus of wiping out the events of The Last Stand. 

3) Interstellar
A big budget film that is as full of big ideas as it is of huge special effects. It also pulls of the trick of being a very personal story about a father and daughter, separated by time and space, both on a mission to try and find a new home for humanity as our world slowly dies. Trust me it is not as depressing as I just made it sound. We haven't had a thought provoking science fiction film about space and our place in the universe for a while, but it was well worth the wait.



No I have not made a mistake. There were two films that were vying for top spot in my top 10 and I kept changing my mind between them, Then all of a sudden It occurred to me, it is my list and I set my own rules so why not have both as my no. 1 film. If you have a problem with that, please write a letter and then throw it in the nearest bin.

1) The Grand Budapest Hotel
The Grand Budapest Hotel is possibly the most Wes Anderson a film can be. Quirky characters [check], Gorgeous colour palette [check], Fun soundtrack [check], Brilliant ensemble cast [check], Bill Murray [check], you get my meaning. Now I hope you understand that I don't say this in a disparaging way, (or you should understand, I have just made this my joint number one film of 2014), I am a huge fan of all of Wes Anderson's work (a bit iffy on Bottle Rocket but then nobody is perfect, scratch that I am perfect), and this is my favourite film by him. What gives this the edge over all his previous films is Ralph Fiennes' incredible comic performance as Gustave H, the concierge of the titular hotel. This is a side of Ralph Fiennes' talent that we have only briefly witnessed in 'In Bruge', so to see him fully spread his comedic wings, was a joy to behold. Not to say that the other performances in this film are to be sniffed at, everyone is great especially the villains of the piece. So All round a must see film.

1) Guardians of the Galaxy
As you should all I am comic book fan (if you don't then either you skipped my paragraph on Captain America, or have something seriously wrong with your memory and should possibly see a doctor), anyway having said that, I have to confess that I was not that familiar with the Guardians of the Galaxy title (mainly a DC guy remember), I was aware that they were a team of heroes in space, one of whom was a Tree and one was a Racoon, and they had something to do with Thanos, but that was about it. And in a way I'm glad about that, you might not know this but some comic book fans can be a bit nitpicky when it comes to story lines and character changes, I have been guilty of this myself from time to time. So coming into this film without any major background allowed me to enjoy this fantastic romp in all its glory. With the exception of Ronan the Accuser, all the characters were fully filled out, all the performances were fantastic, including the mocap Rocket and Groot, (there was this one scene that if I was capable of normal human emotions I may have cried). Added to that was the amazing soundtrack of fantastic 70's tunes, which was a wonderful surprise. Trust me people this film was 2 hours of fun, and I for one can't wait for the sequel.

And my worst film of the year for 2014 is.........

Transformers: Age of Extinction
As if there was any doubt. Now I grew up with the Transformers, I wasn't into them that much (I always preferred He-Man or Thundercats), but they were part of my youth growing up. When the original Transformer film (live action) was announced I was like 'OK could be fun', which it wasn't, and every subsequent film had gotten worse. So when I heard that the quite awful Shia Labeouf had left the franchise and been replaced by Mark Wahlberg I got my hopes up a bit. Wahlberg is OK, he has a bit of charm and can act, (and to be honest he is not the worst thing in this film), but again the Michael Bay has gone for big bangs, special effects, attractive (questionable in this case) talentless actresses instead of plot and character development, and the entire film suffers for it. In the right hands, for example Christopher Nolan, Bryan Singer, Joss Whedon we see that even with big budget blockbusters, plot and character development are the foundations that the films are built on. Not here unfortunately, this is a lowest common denominator of big budget films.

Targeted

Yes I know, I know, you have all missed me and my wondrous words of wisdom, as well as my brilliant talent for alliteration. It has been a little while since I wrote anything, some stuff happened and I haven’t felt like writing in a while (a long while), and therefore you poor souls have had to suffer due to my absence. Well it is time to be joyful and to let the light come flooding back into the darkness that is your life, for I have returned and feel like enlightening you all once again. You Lucky Lucky People.

But wait, “Why now o Magnificent One?” the more inquisitive amongst you might be asking. Well an event occurred very recently that I thought was definitely worth sharing with you, and therefore I shall.

Now those of you who have the extremely good fortune to know me personally, will know that I work shifts, and that when I am on day shifts I get up at 5:30am, yes I know this is a beastly hour that no sane person should be made to endure, but I digress. Anyway generally the third thing I do upon waking up at 5:30am (the first being turning off Counting Crow’ Angels of the Silences (the song set as my alarm), and the second being cursing at now being awake when moments ago I was not), I tend to turn on my laptop and check my email and the news. Yes I understand that this not a great way to start the day, with news of wars, terrorisms, Justin Bieber and spam emails offering me all kinds of things I neither need nor want. However I’m the sort of person that likes to get all that out of the way right at the start. Now low and behold what should I find waiting for me in my inbox Thursday morning, but an email which in the subject line read “Read This Is Important”.  Now obviously I overlooked the bad grammar and opened the email (after all it said it was Important), and this is what I was presented with:

This is the only way I could contact you for now,I want you to be very careful about this and keep this secret with you until I make out space for us to see. You have no need of knowing who I am or where i am from. I know this may sound very surprising to you but it’s the situation.I have been paid some ransom in advance to terminate you with some reasons listed to me by my employer.It’s someone I believe you call a friend, I have followed you closely for a while now and have seen that you are innocent of the accusations leveled against you. Do not contact the police or try to send a copy of this to them,because if you do, I will know,and I might be pushed to do what i have been paid to do.Besides, this is the first time I turn out to be betrayer in my job. I took pity on you and your family... That is why i have made up my mind to help you if you are willing to help yourself.

Now obviously this is some sort of scam, let us get that out of the way from the beginning. Not only that, but it is a very badly written scam. What it isn’t, is something you expect to appear in your email at an ungodly hour, when you have just been roused from a deeply slumber mere minutes ago, where you were quite happily dreaming about.... erm, nevermind that. Anyway given these particular circumstances, I hope you will forgive me for not automatically thinking “oh this is obviously a scam”, in fact I believe I had the appropriate set of responses to this particular situation.

First, there was confusion. Yes I know this is a boring response but could not be help

Second, a sense of pride kicked in. I know this will seem silly to most of you, not all of you, but most of you. However the idea that someone wants you assassinated is a huge ego boost, especially for someone with such a fantastically large and gorgeous one as my own. 

Third, I started to mentally make lists of all my friends who might want me dead. Surprisingly it was more than I would have thought, eight of them if you are interested. Now this  is where a tiny bit of logic kicks in, not a lot mind you, remember what time of day we are talking about, but just enough for me to cut the list down to the four who could afford an assassin.

Forth, as I was now relatively awake, with more logic is seeping in slowly while I tried to work out exactly which of my friends had hired an assassin to kill, when BANG! No not an assassins bullet, but the full dawning of realisation that this is a fucking scam.

Fifth, a slight disappointment at the fact that nobody wants to assassinate me.

Sixth, finally the full horror at the fact that I actually had the day off and am awake at 5 fucking 30 in the morning for no reason whatsoever.

Anyway I hope you will agree that that was worth letting you know about. Will write again soon.

Films You Should Have Seen #4

It's time again for me to enlighten some of you who have missed out on some  fantastic cinematic gems for whatever reason, on their virtues and why you should stop whatever you are doing and watch it right now, (unless you are currently playing an important part in an elaborate heist). 

O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Year: 2000
Directed by: Joel Coen, (Ethan Coen)
Starring: George Clooney, John Turturro, Tim Blake Nelson, Holly Hunter, John Goodman, Charles Durning, Chris Thomas King, Michael Badalucco
IMDB Plot Summary: Loosely based on Homer's "Odyssey," the movie deals with the picaresque adventures of Ulysses Everett McGill and his companions Delmar and Pete in 1930s Mississipi. Sprung from a chain gang and trying to reach Everett's home to recover the buried loot of a bank heist they are confronted by a series of strange characters--among them sirens, a cyclops, bank robber George "Baby Face" Nelson (very annoyed by that nickname), a campaigning governor and his opponent, a KKK lynch mob, and a blind prophet who warns the trio that "the treasure you seek shall not be the treasure you find."Written by Armin Ortmann <armin@sfb288.math.tu-berlin.de>
Why it is worth watching: Well for starters it's a film by the Coen brothers, who in my humble? (no that's not right), who in my Magnificent opinion (o yes that's much better), at their best produce instant classics (Raising Arizona, Millers Crossing, Fargo, The Big Lebowski)  at there worse produce films that are enjoyable to watch (The Hudsucker Proxy, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, Burn After Reading). O Brother, Where Art Thou is definitely one of their better works. 

Like it says above this comedy is based partly on the Odyssey (with many characters names and/or traits taken from the epic) and mixed with a heavy dose of Southern Culture and legends, this film is a true delight visually and as well as aurally (though I will come to that a lot later). Now I'm going to make an assumption that you are all familiar with the Odyssey in at least some part. If you aren't then for fucks sakes what have you been doing with your life. It's been around for about 3000 years, and been translated into countless media, including the fantastic Franco-Japanese animated Ulysses 31 set in Space. They even animated and set it in fucking space for those of you who lack the time or inclination to either read it or watch a film version of it. Anyway I like I said I will assume everyone reading this is aware of it on some level, hence preventing my head from exploding. 

George Clooney takes on the part of Ulysses (The Roman name for the Greek hero Odysseus in case any of you are wondering) Everett McGill , and completely plays it against type. His Ulysses is a not wise nor heroic, but instead a small conman who gets his two "friends" to follow him by pretending to know the answer to every single question they may have. He also seems to lack the effortless charm that had up to that point been Clooney's trademark in the roles he played. This is not to say that McGill is not a likeable character, when interacting with his daughters or indeed his wife Penelope, he shows a true tenderness you don't see elsewhere in the film, (well apart from one scene). Holly Hunter playing Penelope is the only major female character in this film, however whenever she is on screen there is now doubt who is in charge. Wise to all her husbands tricks, she comes across as a bit cold most of the time, but never so much that it turns you against her.

If I was to just talk about the great cast put together by the Coen's for this film, we would be here forever and though that would obviously be a treat for you I have other things to do. Suffice to say every actor in this film brings their A-game and shows great comedic chops. Though I will give a special mention to John Turturro and Tim Blake Nelson, though taking a back seat to Clooney throughout most of the film, they still flourish and are possibly the true heart of the piece.

Now setting the film in the deep south of America during the depression also allowed the Coen's to produce a unique soundtrack that showcased a wide variety of music from the south. Generally when you think of music from the Southern states more often then not you will think of "Country and Western", here you are opened up to Bluegrass, Traditional southern folk songs, Gospel, Blues as well as country, giving a great insight into a rich cultural heritage of the area that is so often ignored due to the other less desirable aspects of the area. The songs that tend to stick out for me are  'O Death' preformed by Ralph Stanley, 'Down to the River to Pray' preformed by Alison Krauss, 'Hard Time Killing Floor Blues' preformed by Chris Thomas King, 'Didn't Leave Nobody but the Baby' preformed by Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, and of course I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow by Soggy Bottom Boys & Dan Tyminski.

Anyway go watch the film and then relax listening to the soundtrack. Then if you haven't done so far go read the Odyssey.

The Mil Millington Appreciation Society

Well Well Well it's seems like that time again for me to pass unto you some of my many many words of wisdom. Now as you all should know by now, as well as a way of entertaining the masses, I also see this blog as a way of educating and enlightening you poor souls who a may have missed out on some of the lesser known fantastic stuff out there, Hence my monthly Films You Should Have Seen post (look forward to Friday I'm doing a musical). Anyway I have thought of something else that you should be aware of, and it's not a something it's a someone. 

Let me introduce you to Mil Millington Author, Humourist and All Round Good Egg (from what I hear).

I came across Mr. Millington around 2001 when a good friend of mine introduced me to his fantastic website Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. In which he recorded his unending struggle against the strains and dangers of living under the tyrannical thumb of his seemingly mad German girlfriend. This is still one of the funniest sites on the internet. You should definitely have a look. 

Since then Mr. Millington has written four novels, (as well as working on many other projects), and I believe that they are four of the funniest novels ever written. Writing full of wit, charm and the occasional C-word. All of his stories look deeply into relationships between couples, from a modern male perspective. something I haven't found in other novels, (though to be ruthlessly honest I haven't looked very hard either). His character interactions remind me of a slightly less classy Bill Wilder, (and if you don't know who that is, hang your head in shame and go to the back of the classroom).

Anyway here are the four Millington Novels (with synopsis taken from http://www.goodreads.com) in my order of preference.

1) Love and Other Near-Death Experiences (2006)
Hello. My name is Robert, and I haven’t been dead for sixty-three days now.

If he hadn’t bought those crummy towels, Rob would be six feet under. But his poor shopping sense accidentally set off a convoluted chain of events that meant he lived when all those others died in the pub explosion. Okay, maybe it wasn’t the ugly towels that saved his life. Perhaps it was some other random action, some other small movement that was the utterly trivial yet vitally important factor. And that’s the real problem.
Now, with his wedding fast approaching, Rob suddenly finds himself paralyzed with indecision–about Every. Little. Thing. He just can't be sure which seemingly innocuous choice will mean the difference between life and death: Should he wash the fork or the knife first? Should he step out of the shower with his left leg or his right leg? Red sweater or blue? One thing is certain: His fiancée, Jo, is at her wits’ end.
To save his relationship and his sanity, Rob embarks on a quest to find out why he’s still breathing. When he meets up with others who have had similar lifesaving near misses, he figures the answer must be close. But fate may just catch them yet, for Rob’s search to understand why he’s still alive might well turn out to be the very thing that kills them all.


2) Instructions For Living Someone Else's Life (2008)
Chris Mortimer goes on a bender one night in 1988 and wakes to find it's 18 years later and he's married to someone he doesn't know. He's still stuck in his hateful job and he's an alcoholic to boot. Things are not looking good. 

3) A Certain Chemistry (2003)
Brooding, self-loathing Tom Cartwright is a modestly successful ghostwriter whose ability to spell correctly and meet his deadlines has landed him the job of writing the autobiography of the wildly popular soap-opera star Georgina Nye. His imbibing, chain-smoking agent is swooning, and his offbeat, sweetly supportive live-in girlfriend of five years, Sara, is ecstatic—new carpets! 

Yet even as he feverishly pens (read: mostly makes up) Georgina’s “straight-from-the-heart” life story (he’s thinking maybe a thoughtful, feminist angle), he is lusting for Georgina herself. Soon Tom—poor, misguided, painfully careening Tom—thinks he can have it all: a woman at home who loves him, and a hot, panting affair with a television diva. With a little planning, can it really be so hard?

4) Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About (2002)
concerns a guy named Pel who lives with his German girlfriend, Ursula. Pel leads an uneventful life—quietly bluffing his way through his job and discovering new things to argue about with Ursula. But when his boss mysteriously disappears, Pel steps innocently into his shoes and his life spirals out of control in a chaotic whirl of stolen money, missing colleagues, and Chinese mafiosi.

Anyway go out and find these books or if you must stay in and download them, then read them. I can almost guarantee that once you start them you will find it hard to put them down.

In Pods We Trust

I know most of you wonder what someone as fantastic and all round awesome as myself does for enjoyment. Well being the well balanced and fascinating human being I am, I have a wide range of interests to keep me amused. Of course my time like most of yours, is precious (probably more so in the case of most of you), and I don't get to indulge myself as much as I would like.

However one of the things I do regularly though is listen to Podcasts, (a wide variety of them). This is because I find them entertaining and can listen to them while doing other activities such as working, travelling, writing this blog and so on and so forth. Anyhow I thought as you have all been good little boys and girls (and anything else) I would introduce you to some of my favourites. Please be aware all of these podcasts contain crude language, in some case extremely crude language. If you are the sort of person who is likely to be easily offended, maybe you should get lost and find another blog to read.

Hollywood Babble-on

The first of two podcasts from Kevin Smiths Smodcast network. Kevin Smith and the extremely talented Ralph Garman sit down every week (usually) in front of a live audience, to discuss various aspects of the entertainment industry. Lots of regular tongue in cheek features such as looking at up coming projects, celebrity lifestyle news (generally very insultingly towards the Kardashians, Lyndsay Lohan, Justin Bieber and Will Smiths Children), an obituary section for some of the industries lesser know alumna's and many many more. Smiths laid back (generally on weed), and Garmans slightly surly demeanour create a great double act and extremely entertaining if Smith has smoked too much and/or Garman has had a few too many Jack Daniels.  
Started: 24/08/10
Out every: Week
Number so far: 126

How Did This Get Made

I came across this one while listening to another podcast a few weeks ago and have since listened to all of the back catalogue.  Comedians Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael and Jason Mantzoukas, along with a guest(s) watch a film and then sit down together to discuss it. Generally the film will be from one of two categories Films so bad/crazy that watching them makes you feel despair and anger at the time you wasted watching them or Films so bad/crazy that they reach a level of sublime ridiculousness that makes them some of the best film watching experiences of your life. 

Started: 14/05/11
Out every: 2 Weeks
Number so far: 62

Mission Logs

This one is truly for us Star Trek enthusiasts. Set up by Rod Roddenberry and hosted by John Champion and Ken Ray (awesome names gentlemen). Every week they watch an episode of Star trek (starting with the original unaired pilot and then by original airdate), they then analysis the story, morals and messages and production of the episode indepth. Currently halfway through The Original Series, the long term plan is to do an episode for all of the different series (including the Animated Series) and all of the film. Which if your maths skills are as good as mine you will realise is a going to take over 13 years from now. 
Started: 09/08/12
Out every: Week
Number so far: 40 (plus specials)

Tell 'Em Steve-Dave

The second podcast from Kevin Smiths Smodcast network. This time coming from Jay and Silent Bob's Secret Stash (Comic Book Shop). Hosted by Smiths childhood friends Bryan Johnson (the basis of the character Randal from Clerks and Clerks 2) and Walter Flanaghan, along with their funny friend Brian Quinn. This podcast goes everywhere topic wise, from depression, the supernatural, casual racism to whatever screwed up story they find in the news anywhere. Comic Books and the View Askew Universe rare come up. The wit and general piss taking that has made this one of my favourites has now been translated to the small screen successfully with Bryan and Walt leading the Secret Stash crew in ABC's  Comic Book Men.
Started: 21/02/10
Out every: Week
Number so far: 152

The Bugle Podcast

Hosted by John Oliver (generally from New York) and Andy Zaltzman (generally from London) these two funny funny men take a look at the weeks news and report it using from their own unique and hilarious point of view. Beware though Zaltzman has a tendency to break into long pun runs out of nowhere. 
Started: 14/10/07
Out every: Week
Number so far: 234

The Empire Magazine Podcast

A great film related podcast hosted by various members of the Empire Magazine contributors, led generally by Chris Hewitt or Helen O'Hara. I used to listen to a different film podcast before I got extremely annoyed by one of the co-hosts being a gigantic douche bag. Luckily that is not an issue here. All the hosts are entertaining, as well as number of them knowing quite a lot about comic books and geek culture. The magazine has been around for nearly 25 years so you get some really big name guests interviewed, along with the new up and coming stars of the future.
Started: 02/03/12
Out every: Week
Number so far: 60 (plus specials)

The Football Ramble

One of my great passion which I haven't written about yet is Football, I'm sure I will get to it at some point (I bet you are now waiting with baited breath). Hosted by Marcus Speller, Luke Moore, James Campbell and Pete Donaldson. They take a look at the weeks football news, results and rumours as well as placing someone or something into their hall of fame after providing a profile. Started: 02/05/09
Out every: Week (Not during the off season)
Number so far: 196

There you go, that should cover a wide enough range of topics, so there should be something there for everyone. There are of course other podcasts out there. If you find any that you think we should know about, write about it in the comments section.

Films You Should Have Seen #3

It's time again for me to enlighten some of you who have missed out on some  fantastic cinematic gems for whatever reason, on their virtues and why you should stop whatever you are doing and watch it right now, (unless you are in the middle of coitus of course). 

Clerks
Year: 1994
Directed by: Kevin Smith
Starring: Brian O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Jay Mewes, Kevin Smith, Marilyn Ghigliotti, Lisa Spoonhauer, Walter Flanagan, Scott Mosier
IMDB Plot Summary:  Dante Hicks is a clerk at a local convenience store in New Jersey. On one particular Saturday morning, he gets called in on his day off. Once there, he must deal with multiple problems. The shutters outside won't open. His ex-girlfriend, whom he is still in love with, is getting married. His girlfriend, who bugs him about starting college, has revealed certain, uh...stuff about her past. His boss hasn't come in to take his place. He has a hockey game at 2 o'clock. Another ex has died, and today's the last day he can go to her wake. He must deal with customers that aren't so intelligent. His friend, Randal, a clerk at the video store next door, is even less dedicated to his job than Dante, and is always bothering Dante's customers. And the biggest problem of them all: HE'S NOT EVEN SUPPOSED TO BE THERE TODAY!! Can Dante manage it all? (Written by MTRodaba2468)
Why it is worth watching: OK let me start by saying I am a huge fan of Kevin Smith, not just his work, most of which (with the exception of Cop Out) I like, but the man himself. I find him to be be extremely talented and funny and if you read any of his books, watch his Evening with... talks or listen to his podcasts you will know that his is an extremely candid individual, who though sometimes seeming crass verging on vulgar, still exudes a boyish charm.

Anyway this particular film is probably my favourite of all of his filmography. Possibly because when it came out I was also working in a service industry, (working weekends at as a telephonist at a taxi company, while at college and university), having to deal with dick customers (not all of them of course most of them were quite pleasant, though more then you would think). I was the right age to understand the ennui that the main protagonist Dante is going through, so it really spoke to me, as it did with a lot of people of then, and from what I've heard it still holds true for people watching it for the first time now. 

So reasons to watch this film. First of all the dialogue, it is funny, crude and extremely realistic. When watching this you can truly believe that the two main leads are just a couple of friends shooting the shit, to relieve the boredom of their day. Talking of the two leads the contrast in the characters is portrayed brilliantly by O'Halloran and Anderson (the latter of which had no acting experience before this). Loosely based on the relationship between Kevin Smith himself and his friend Bryan Johnson, (about whom I will be writing a bit more in my next post), Dante and Randal are a double act that can only be compared to (if stretched), that of Ferris and Cameroon in Ferris Bueller's Day Off or possibly R2-D2 and C3PO from well you know, Star Wars. Dante can be seen as a classic straight if slightly put upon man, Randal is far from the buffonish sidekick that makes up the tradional formula. He is smart, witty and really doesn't give a fuck. O'Halloran and Anderson bring a warm, casual chemistry to the roles that is a great central pillar to this film and it's sequel Clerks 2.

Filmed on money borrowed from credit cards, by a crew mainly made up of young film school graduates, (Smith having dropped out early to work on the script), and their friend, the look of the film may be criticised by some. I however feel that the look is perfect for this film. Once described as "the filmic equivalent of a garage band", it is pure Grunge. Which also translates into it's brilliant soundtrack, which features great early 90's musicians like Soul Asylum, Alice in Chains and Bad Religion amongst others.

I can not recommend this film highly enough and if you need any other reason here are three random things you will find in this film;

1. The best use of the number 37 ever
2. The laziest fight scene ever choreographed 
3. Accidental Necrophilia

Watch this film and then watch the brilliant documentary The Snowball Effect about the making of it.

Daydreaming For Adults

Hello all to lovely lovely lot. Just a short post this time I'm afraid. I know, I know you can't get enough of my awesomeness. However this month has been a bit hectic. Also I am about to embark on some adult activity soon. No not like that, keep your mind out of the gutter until I take you there.

Anyway the weather has been lovely here recently and it reminded me of a poem I wrote years ago, (yes I write poetry sometimes, I truly am extremely talented).

Ode To Cloud

As I lay and look up today

The sky a perfect blue

Watching the clouds above my head

The way I used to do

In the giddy days of youth

I did not have a care

I used to look up and imagine shapes

For hours I could stare

Playing out stories and adventures

With what the clouds sent my way

I remember much better times

As I lay and look up today

It helped remind me that even though we may grow up we should always make time for daydreaming, because where would we be without the daydreamers.