Dead Poets Society

Well good afternoon!

 This weeks addition to my blog is the film Dead Poets Society. I have always been a great admirer of the work of Robin Williams ever since seeing his wonderful portrayal of the Genie in Aladdin. As with many people it was hugely upsetting to hear of his passing, he was genuinely one of the most influential and wonderful actors of his generation and he shall be remembered fondly for his bubbly personality and vibrant characters. I have a few of Williams' films on my list and so I thought it appropriate to start with one I have been meaning to watch for years. Safe to say I was not disappointed.

 The first thing which struck me were the similarities between the school portrayed in the film - Welton Academy - and my own secondary school. Although mine was not as strict and severe it especially hit me in the first scene when the headmaster was discussing the grades that his students achieved and how many of them went to 'Ivy League' schools. It seemed all too familiar. The tagline of the school was 'religion, honour, discipline, excellence' which is strangely similar to a certain latin motto of a certain all girls school... Anyway the reason I am mentioning these resemblances is because it made it so much easier to connect with this film, I could relate to what these boys were going through and the stage that they were at in their lives on a personal level because I've just been through it in a similar environment. This effect is just brilliant and made the film even more enjoyable to watch.

 Ultimately the film was completely refreshing, I understand wholeheartedly the impact that a single teacher can have on the lives of impressionable young students. All you need is one interesting and original teacher and that can change the lives of teenagers forever and that certainly happened in this film. All the boys came out of themselves during the course of the film especially Neil played by Robert Sean Leonard. By means of John Keating, Neil was able to realise his dream of being an actor and seemed so happy when he was on stage. He was able to escape, just for a second, the clutches of his overbearing father and do something for himself.

 All the boys resurrected the Dead Poets Society something which Keating was a part of in his youth. They snuck out of school at night to read poetry to eachother, in my opinion it made the boys feel part of something for a change and this rebellious side allowed them to live their lives to the fullest. In Keating's first less he urged the boys to be extraordinary asserting 'seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary'. The underlining messages in this film are utterly inspiring, Keating talks about not conforming, to be different and individual. This is something I try and strive for and it's such an important lesson to teach children from a young age. Welton Academy tried to teach the boys that order and orthodoxy was the right way to educate, but Keating believed that the use of education was allowing children to think for themselves. This juxtaposition between the orthodoxy and Keating was very effective.

 The performances by the actors themselves were incredibly good with Robin Williams an obvious stand-out. His portrayal of the unconventional teacher John Keating was graceful and filled with humility and yet he brought comedy into it as well. The way he interacted with the boys was almost like he had been their friend for years. I've always liked Robert Sean Leonard and I have to say I was a massive fan of House and his portrayal of the 'trapped' Neil in this film was mesmerising. He filled the character with almost fanatical passion and it was a complete shock to me the way the film ended. I felt so emotionally involved in the characters, especially the young boys because I could relate to them, and it shook me a lot when Neil committed suicide. It just shows how important it is to let your children be themselves and do what they want. The student-teacher bond between Neil and Keating is also a wonderful thing to see unfold and I understand how sometimes children just need to speak to their teachers and not their families about personal issues. 

 If there was one thing that I could criticise it would be the cliché elements. Don't get me wrong everyone loves a good cliché from time to time, but I thought it wasn't needed in this case as the film itself was so well crafted. I think the main one was the shy character of Todd finally coming out his shell with the aid of John Keating and the other boys. However saying that I still thought it did work.

Overall this was a wonderfully inspirational film with fantastic acting and an incredibly special message that I think we need to use more of in our daily lives.

Carpe Diem

The Grand Budapest Hotel

Well hello all!
 As many of you may know the nominations for the BAFTAS 2015 have recently been announced with The Grand Budapest Hotel picking up 11 nominations including the nominations for best picture and best actor for Ralph Fiennes' portrayal of Monsieur Gustave H. Therefore, I thought it would only be appropriate to kick off my little project with a recent film which many already consider to be one of their favourites. The film was released in March of last year to critical acclaim and as the awards season comes to a climax it is tipped to be extremely successful. I think what attracted me most to film at first was the stellar cast, with Fiennes leading the predominantly male line-up and actors such as Edward Norton and Jude Law bringing up the rear. I was also interested to see how newcomer Tony Revolori faired up against the big guns in this prolific role as lobby boy 'Zero'. Although lacking in female members of the cast Saoirse Ronan of The Lovely Bones and Atonement performs very well. Needless to say I had high expectations for this film.

What hit me hardest about the film was the incredible story-telling methods used by Anderson as a means to move the plot along and increase the dramatic effect of the film itself. The almost random use of narration provides a way of increasing or decreasing the pace of the story. Often I find the use of narration a cheap way of moving the plot along and nowadays films tend to steer away from using it but here it was a delight as it was not regular and so it was more a surprise when the narration kicked in rather than a hindrance. The almost 'robotic' or perhaps 'emotionless' (though not in a bad sense) way in which the narration was delivered echoed the tone of the film perfectly. Overall I found this to be very clever. Another aspect I found interesting was right at the beginning when 'Young Writer' (played by Jude Law) was narrating and he used phrases such as 'he said' and 'he asked' which obviously much more prolifically suggests story-telling. Also the use of different times zones created an aspect of timelessness which is often very difficult to portray in a film. The story which is being told has clearly transcended the decades and so as a viewer one automatically understands this to be a story of great stature and therefore right from the beginning one is already enticed by the prospect of an enthralling adventure. The mixture of these techniques produces a work of pure genius, and the plot itself is ridiculously fast paced leaving my Mum and I on the edge of our (sofa) seats. However it is not over-complicated and although the film almost flashes by in a heartbeat I still feel like I've experienced the film completely which is a rare achievement in cinema. It is without a doubt an exhilarating journey. 

The characters themselves are just wonderful with Fiennes' portrayal of Gustave H. an absolute delight to watch. He is extravagant and also hilarious and he delivers his dialogue at a fast, unwavering pace, almost without emotion, yet filled with passion and excitement at the same time. During the course of the film Gustave H seems to become more and more flustered and occasionally the audience sees him crack, even so, unbelievably he is able to retain his humour. It is very difficult to pinpoint exactly what makes this character 'tick', I personally enjoy the way in which he uses the word 'darling' to address anyone in any situation, even though this is only a small detail it is things like this which make a character memorable. Gustave H. is an intricate character brought to life by the fantastic acting of Fiennes. The relationship between Gustave H. and his lobby boy Zero is heartfelt and genuine as they both embark on this ridiculous adventure together. Zero sticks by Gustave H. in all circumstances and their bond surpasses a simple work-based relationship and what you have is a friendship of sorts. That said, newcomer Tony Revolori did extremely well in portraying Zero the lobby boy. I also enjoyed the random cameos from some more famous actors such a Owen Wilson, Tilda Swinton and Jason Schwartzman, and of course I absolutely loved (probably because I'm quite biased in this sense) the performance of Edward Norton. Norton brought an otherwise dull police official to life and almost made him humorous. 

Now, I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on film, however the next thing that I'm going to talk a bit about is more a technical aspect (so you may have to bear with me) and that is the camera shots and angles which Anderson uses. What struck me was the extreme use of 'front on' shots i.e. when the character is sitting down or speaking to someone else and it almost seems as if you are the other person the character is speaking to due to the camera shot. It definitely adds an incredibly interesting aspect which creates a sense of being part of the film as a member of the audience. As well as this I found the use of levels very effective, it was obvious that Anderson had thought about every shot with utmost precision because each shot was very artistically and perfectly shot.

Overall I have to admit that I really enjoyed this film. For me it was a breath of fresh air, it was something completely different and utterly original and definitely deserves its nominations in the BAFTAS, I have high hopes for this film when it comes to the awards season due to its brilliant storytelling, rich and intricate characters and a wonderful authenticity surrounding the film as a whole. An utter delight to watch.

Liv out.

The List

And so without further ado here is the list:

1. Pulp Fiction                                                51. A beautiful mind 
2. No Country For Old Men                           52. Léon
3. Citizen Kane                                               53. City Of God
4. Good Will Hunting                                     54. V For Vendetta
5. Dead Poet's Society                                    55. Schindler's List
6. Good Morning Vietnam                             56. True Romance
7. Taxi Driver                                                 57. Inglorious Bastards
8. The Italian Job                                            58. From Dusk Till Dawn
9. Into The Wild                                             59. Gandhi
10. The Shining                                                60. Breakfast Club
11. A Clockwork Orange                                 61. American Beauty
12. Requiem For A Dream                               62. Pan's Labyrinth
13. Donnie Darko                                             63. 2001: A Space Odyssey 
14. Pale Rider                                                   64. Beasts Of The Southern Wild
15. Milk                                                            65. Walk The Line
16. Inside Llewyn Davis                                  66. Gran Torino
17. Eternal Sunshine Of A Spotless Mind       67. Silver Lining's Playbook
18. The Godfather                                            68. Senna
19. Se7en                                                          69. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
20. Mulholland Drive                                       70. The Imitation Game
21. Green Mile                                                 71. True Grit
22. Shawshank Redemption                             72. Matrix
23. Trainspotting                                              73. Saving Private Ryan
24. Fargo                                                          74. Lincoln
25. Burn After Reading                                    75. Moneyball
26. The Lives Of Others                                   76. Tree Of Life
27. Dr Strangelove                                            77. Life Of Pi
28. Dogma                                                        78. There Will Be Blood
29. Forrest Gump                                              79. Argo
30. One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest             80. The Road
31. The Life Of David Gale                              81. Children Of Men
32. La Haine                                                      82. Inception
33. Wuthering Heights                                      83. Minority Report
34. The Usual Suspects                                     84. Hannibal
35. Scarface                                                       85. Pearl Harbour
36. Gladiator                                                      86. The Passion Of Christ
37. Silence Of The Lambs                                 87. Casablanca
38. Rocky                                                          88. Psycho
39. Withnail & I                                                89. Memento
40. The Bone Collector                                     90. The Pianist
41. Django                                                         91. Apocalypse Now
42. Django Unchained                                      92. Braveheart
43. American Gangster                                     93. Boyhood
44. The Departed                                              94. The Great Escape
45. Malcolm X                                                  95. Die Hard
46. Book Of Eli                                                96. Gone Girl
47. Mud                                                            97. Wolf Of Wall Street
48. Her                                                             98. The Deer Hunter
49. Kill Bill                                                      99. The Grand Budapest Hotel
50. Kill Bill 2                                                  100. The Graduate 

                                101. Blade Runner
                                102. Stand By Me
                                103. Interstellar
                                104. Blue Velvet
                                105. Machine Gun Preacher
                                106. Hotel Rwanda

     

I know I may have missed some so I will probably add some films to the list in the coming days but for the mean time these are the films I have come up with!

Liv out.

Introduction..

Well hello there!

First thing's first: my name is Liv and I'm currently studying philosophy at Cardiff University. I've always had a secret passion for film, I mean you'd probably find me watching up and coming film trailers on Youtube or googling 'Oscar predictions' months before the Academy Awards. However, I've never really been that 'in the know' or particularly cultured about films and so at the beginning of 2015 I had this silly little idea to fuel my rather juvenile passion for film. Recently I put a status on Facebook asking my friends their opinions on the 'greatest films ever made', I also directly asked my friends and families for their views as well as consulting many websites and 'top 50 etc' lists.

My aim: to create a list of what my friends, family, critics, audiences etc consider to be the best films ever created. This done I am planning, over the course of the year and perhaps beyond, to watch every one of them and write a small blog post on each. I cannot promise they'll be regular due to university and life but I am so determined to make this my little project.

The list is almost finished I just need to type it out and then it will be ready to be published on here and I shall be poised and somewhat apprehensive to start my adventure!

More to come...

Liv out.