Changeling

Year: 2008
Running time: 141 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: J. Michael Straczynski
Director: Clint Eastwood
Starring: Angelina Jolie, Gattlin Griffith, John Malkovich, Jason Butler Harner

Christine tries desperately to get the help she needs.

Changeling seemed like a pretty big deal when it was released in 2008. As a director, Clint Eastwood can range from competent-yet-uninspiring (American Sniper, Sully), to astonishing (Unforgiven, Million Dollar Baby) and Changeling appeared to be an example of the latter, but in the decade and change since, it isn't usually remembered as one of his best. There was a buzz about it and it got a decent critical reception (Empire has been known to give away its five-star 'Unmissable' rating a little too easily sometimes, and while not quite an Attack of the Clones five-star misstep, the review of Changeling did overrate it a tad).

Christine Collins (Angelina Jolie, shining brighter than everyone, as usual) is a single mother in 1928 L.A. She comes home from work one day to find her 9 year-old son Walter (Gattlin Griffith) missing. She goes to the police for help, and the search begins. After five months, the LAPD claim Walter has been found, and mother and son are reunited publicly, the police taking every opportunity they can for some positive publicity. The only problem is, Christine can see, clearly, that the boy they've brought to her isn't her son. Eager to maintain the positive boost to their reputation, the LAPD flat-out shut her down, telling her that it definitely is her son.

Christine has her nagging doubts and worst fears confirmed.

Nowhere to turn to, Christine finds her way to Reverend Gustav Briegleb (John Malcovich), a preacher well aware of the corruption running through the core of the police department. He takes up Christine's cause as his own, and standing up to the authorities when they commit her to a mental asylum to get her out of the way.

Part of the film also follows a discovery at a dilapidated farmstead, where a horrific tale offers a clue to the true whereabouts of Walter.

The film takes in several genres, moving smoothly from a missing persons drama, to noir, through horror to a courtroom drama. The characters are generally quite one-dimensional, so I think this changing of genre makes little difference to them; perhaps if there was more complexity to them, it would be more jarring. It's a competently told story, based on true events, and Jolie is magnificent, but the no-frills, somewhat pedestrian film-making makes it much less memorable than it might have been.

Score: 6/10

Reviews out there certainly covered a number of varied opinions; not only was there the 5-star Empire review, but there is also this review from Dana at Slate, who was about as impressed as I was, and this one from Christopher at The New Republic, and he declared it the worst film of the year, which I though was a bit over the top.

Face/Off

Year: 1997
Running time: 138 minutes
Certificate: 18
Language: English
Screenplay: Mike Werb, Michael Colleary
Director: John Woo
Starring: John Travolta, Nicholas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola, Gina Gershon, Dominique Swain, Nick Cassavetes

Sean Archer as Caster Troy: Still not having any fun.

This is it, dear readers. The lunatic pinnacle the ridiculous '90s action craze. The highest of concepts, the most ridiculous of stories. The most overblown performances. And some of the most scorching action visuals ever committed to film. The recent announcement that a remake is in the works is nonsensical. How can this ludicrous perfection ever be improved? Surely it's tantamount to blasphemy to even consider it? The two movies of the time that came closest to matching Face/Off for insanity were probably Con Air and Starship Troopers. I love them both, but Face/Off towers above them with ease.

John Woo is up there as one of the best directors of action we've ever had, but prior to Face/Off his output while in America hadn't measured up to the best of the films he had made before moving to the US. For Face/Off, everything finally came together.

Caster Troy (Nicholas Cage) is a Villain. Capital V. Hell, the whole word should be upper case. Murder, terrorism, drugs, Caster is just living his best evil life. A thorn in his side however, is super-serious cop Sean Archer (John Travolta). Since Troy accidentally killed his young son Michael (Myles Jeffrey), Archer has had a singular mission to obsess over: take down Caster Troy. In an astonishing opening set piece most films would save for the climax, Archer and his team finally take down Troy, landing him in a coma and capturing his brother Pollux  (Alessandro Nivola).

You'd think Archer would feel like celebrating, a least a little, after that wouldn't you? But no, when his colleagues give him a round of applause, he snaps at them, because of course catching Troy was never going to bring back his son, and he feels just as shitty about it as he ever did.

The problem is, before he went to sleep, naughty Caster planted a giant bomb, and nobody knows where, except Caster and Pollux. So naturally, the go to move here is to use plastic surgery to alter Archer into Troy and then swapping their faces. Not in some clever Mission Impossible mask kind of way, but by actually swapping faces. Then dump Archer into the most maximum of maximum security prisons to pose as Caster to find the location of the bomb from Pollux.

Typically understated moment of action.

This is, obviously, bonkers. But, watching Cage pretending to be Travolta's character pretending to be Cage's character in that full-on bug-eyed way that only Cage can do, you very quickly come to the realisation that it is actually a stroke of genius. And then it gets ever more ridiculous, because having his face cut off caused Troy to wake up from his coma, and he proceeds to force the orchestrators of this plan to alter his body and give him Archer's face. And then murders everybody that knows about it and destroys all the evidence.

Having taken over Archer's life, the scene in the prison when Cage playing Archer playing Troy sees Travolta playing Troy playing Archer for the first time is so much fun. The fact that it is played completely straight just makes it even better. Left to rot in prison as Caster Troy, Archer has an uphill struggle to escape and reclaim his life back from his nemesis. The rest of Face/Off is the story of how he goes about this, and it's every bit as over-the-top and bombastic as you could wish for: The prison escape turns everything up to 11. A shoot out with the police during which the gangsters are desperately trying to protect a young boy named Adam (David McCurley) which turns out to be Caster's son. There is some masterful framing at work, as Woo puts young Adam standing on some lights in the floor, listening to Somewhere Over the Rainbow on headphones while all hell breaks loose around him. The Woo signature of doves is present and correct, heralding the final showdown in a beautifully atmospheric church. Even the obvious use of stunt doubles in the crash at the end of the climactic speedboat chase doesn't spoil it too much (you read that right: Face/Off ends in a speedboat chase, because of course it does).

It's overblown, it's ridiculous, sometimes it's just plain weird (there is much face stroking going on for some reason), but, somehow, against all the odds, Face/Off works.

Score: 8/10

The brilliance and ridiculousness of Face/Off is not lost on others, as seen in these reviews by Tom at the A.V. Club and Benoit at Dead End Follies.

Cars

Year: 2006 (Cars), 2011 (Cars 2), 2017 (Cars 3)
Running time: 117 minutes (Cars), 106 minutes (Cars 2), 102 minutes (Cars 3)
Certificate: PG (Cars), U (Cars 2, Cars 3)
Language: English
Screenplay: Dan Fogelman, John Lasseter, Joe Ranft, Kiel Murray, Phil Lorin, Jorgen Klubien (Cars), Ben Queen (Cars 2), Kiel Murray, Bob Peterson, Mike Rich (Cars 3)
Directors: John Lasseter, Joe Ranft (Cars), John Lasseter, Bradford Lewis (Cars 2), Brian Fee (Cars 3)
Starring (voices): Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, Bonnie Hunt, Larry the Cable Guy, Cheech Marin, Tony Shalhoub, Guido Quaroni, Jenifer Lewis, Paul Dooley, Michael Wallis, George Carlin, Katherine Helmond, John Ratzenberger, Michael Keaton, Richard Petty, Jeremy Piven, Bob Costas, Darrell Waltrip, Tom Magliozzi, Ray Magliozzi, Michael Caine, Emily Mortimer, Eddie Izzard, John Tuturro, Cristela Alonzo, Chris Cooper, Nathan Fillion, Armie Hammer

McQueen finds the mentor he never knew he needed.

The Cars franchise has always been lesser Pixar. I mean, it's still imaginative brilliance, but it's never reached the highs of most of the studio's other output. It's always been a little strange to me, then, that the first movie spawned two sequels. It was a bit of a passion project for Pixar head honcho John Lasseter, and so I suppose that could be a reason. I'm determined to not let Lasseter being tarred by the 'me too' brush ruin my enjoyment of it too much, because, as I mentioned in the Rain Man review, a film is made by more than one person, and there is a hell of a lot of great people at Pixar, and many of them worked on the Cars franchise.

Set in a human-less world populated instead with sentient cars, it is certainly an unusual concept. Lightning McQueen (Owen Wilson) is a rookie race car looking to win the Piston Cup. His two rivals are honourable old champion with the big sponsorship deal McQueen is hoping to win The King (Richard Petty) and a car bitter from a lifetime spent in second place in The King's shadow and willing to play dirty to win, Chick Hicks (Michael Keaton). McQueen is clearly talented, but when we first meet him he is obnoxious with it. Betting he can win the final race and bag the Piston Cup without changing his tyres, a blowout on the final lap sees him just scraping a three-way tie with The King and Chick. The stage is set for a deciding race between the three of them.

Chick Hicks: A dangerous opponent.

Having not yet learned his lesson, McQueen pushes those around him away and Mack, the truck that hauls him around everywhere (voiced by Pixar lucky charm John Ratzenberger) to the point of exhaustion. A mishap in the middle of the night leaves McQueen stranded in the middle of nowhere and in his panic he crashes into a sleepy backwater known as Radiator Springs, wrecking the road as he does so.

And this is where Cars finds its heart. Radiator Springs is populated with a cracking set of characters, where McQueen immediately gets on the wrong side of the cantankerous old Doc Hudson (Paul Newman), who sets him the task of resurfacing the road he damaged in lieu of jailtime. Out of the cast of oddballs, there are two that stand out most significantly in addition to Doc; Sally Carrera (Bonnie Hunt), a Porsche running the local motel and Mater (Larry the Cable Guy), a rusty tow truck who takes a shine to McQueen early on and before long becomes his best friend.

Mater gets to know McQueen's new rival.

During his time in Radiator Springs, McQueen finds an opportunity to appreciate the slower things in life, and as he changes his outlook he wins the townspeoplecars over and begins to feel at home. This film and its makers have an obvious love for cars and the times when driving across a country was done for the ride, not just to get to somewhere else as quickly as possible, and it's made with such affection, that you can’t help wishing for those times too, although, like McQueen, I've never actually witnessed such a time.

The heart of the story may be in Radiator Springs, but the standout set pieces are the races themselves; incredible looking and thrilling - everything Days of Thunder was supposed to be. Even a lesser Pixar film set in a world populated with talking cars with giant eyes, they still somehow manage to create a final act that brings a tear to my eye, as McQueen learns and demonstrates the value of friendship, empathy and just being kind.

Finn McMissile demonstrates how he got his name.

The sequel is bonkers, and straight out of leftfield, even for Pixar. For Cars 2 is a spy movie. With cars. The focus shifts to Mater as he is accidentally recruited as a spy by suave agents Finn McMissile (Michael Caine) and Holley Shiftwell (Emily Mortimer). McQueen is competing in a new series of high-profile races to publicise a more sustainable fuel pioneered by Sir Miles Axlerod (Eddie Izzard).

Mater assists in uncovering a conspiracy to make the new super fuel appear unsafe by making it appear like it causes engines to blow dangerously mid-race. A conspiracy run by what Mater refers to as 'Lemons' - cars that are unreliable, constantly breaking down and having to source spare parts.

Some quality comedy is mined from the rivalry between McQueen and Italian Formula One car Francesco Bernoulli (John Turturro), and the film looks glorious, but it's just such a strange diversion from the tone set by the first film, that it never quite convinces. Perhaps 'convinces' is the wrong word to use when talking about films about sentient spy cars, but I'm sure you know what I mean. It lacks something that the first film had.

McQueen struggles to catch new hot-shot Jackson Storm.

Something that Cars 3 happily finds again. No longer the fresh-faced rookie, Cars 3 finds McQueen struggling to keep up with the new and improved racers. Pushing himself against new rival Jackson Storm (Armie Hammer), McQueen suffers a horrendous crash and isolates himself in Radiator Springs throughout his long recovery. McQueen's old sponsors Rust-Eze have been sold to Sterling (Nathan Fillion), and McQueen sets himself up in Sterling's state-of the-art training centre to get back into shape.

Working with racing trainer Cruz Ramirez (Cristela Alonzo), McQueen refuses to accept what seems obvious to everyone; he'll never be as fast as Jackson Storm. This is where Cars 3 begins to evoke the original in a really rather poetic and beautiful way, as McQueen's focus shifts from trying to get faster to teaching Cruz to drive on sand, and discovering more about his late mentor, Doc Hudson. Doc's old mentor Smokey (Chris Cooper) explains to McQueen how much their friendship meant to him.

Working with Smokey, Cruz and McQueen start to build technique to try to overcome McQueen's speed disadvantage, and following an earlier conversation where Cruz revealed she had always wanted to be a racer but could never find the courage, it starts to become clear that Cruz can beat McQueen when she finds her confidence. The finale of Cars 3 also borrows from the first film, as McQueen moves out of the picture, leaving Cruz to take centre stage and beat Storm to the finish line.

McQueen and Cruz, bonding while training.

The three films are chockfull of gorgeous imagery, lovely character work and thrilling set pieces, but, especially with the middle part that lacks some of the heart you can usually take for granted in a Pixar movie, they are decidedly second-tier Pixar.

Score:
Cars: 7/10
Cars 2: 6/10
Cars 3: 7/10

While the general opinion out there tends to mirror mine (see the IMDb scores), there are some out there that have a different opinion. This review of Cars by James at ReelViews skews close to my opinion, but Todd at The Hollywood Reporter overrates Cars 2 somewhat, and David at Rolling Stone prefers Cars 3 to both its predecessors by some margin.

No Country for Old Men

Year: 2007
Running time: 122 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Joel Coen, Ethan Coen
Directors: Ethan Coen, Joel Coen
Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Javier Bardem, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson, Kelly Macdonald

To live or to die, by the flip of a coin.

Following a run of fast-paced, occasionally absurd comedies (not that that's a bad thing), in 2007 the Coens reminded the world that they are also masters of cold and relentlessly brutal drama. Based on the Cormac McCarthy novel, it's a disturbing look at amoral criminality in Texas.

We open with police officer Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones) reminiscing about days gone by, recognising that the crimes he has to deal with in his twilight years are so excessively violent as to be beyond his understanding.

Just such a monster is Anton Chigurh (Javier Bardem), a killer so lacking in morality that for him murder is little more than a chance to play an interesting game of chance, preferring to use a cattle gun to murder people. It may be his shocking haircut that causes him to act so dreadfully, but we'll never know.

Llewelyn Moss (Josh Brolin) discovers the aftermath of what appears to have been a drug deal which ended badly. Amongst the bodies, he also finds $2 million in cash. Knowing that he shouldn't, he takes it and runs. Chigurh is employed to retrieve the money and begins to track Moss, and the scene is set for a tense and sustained game of cat and mouse.

Ed Tom Bell knows he can't hold back the tide of darkness.

Bell is also trying to get to Moss, if only to try to offer some kind of protection from Chigurh, if he can, resigned to the fact that the assassin is simply another part of the wave of terrifying, remorseless, uncaring violent criminality against which he is largely powerless. It's a chilling and depressing thing to consider, but considering the world we live in in 2019, where brutality, amorality and a callous disregard for facts and the welfare of everything and everyone is putting and keeping people in power all over the world from America and my own fair homeland, through Russia, to Brazil, it's proven sadly prescient.

The Coens double down on the bleakness as the story comes to its conclusion, following an extended masterclass in extracting tension from the slow chase across the American south. It's a very, very good film, possibly the Coen's best. If not their best, it's certainly up there. But I don't like it as much as some of their others. I prefer Fargo, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Big Lebowski. No Country for Old Men is probably better made than all of them, but I prefer my Coens a little less bleak. It's highly recommended, a must-watch even, but just not as much fun to watch.

Score: 8/10

I find myself outnumbered in my opinion. It seems other reviews put No Country for Old Men ahead of pretty much every other Coen effort. See these reviews from Peter at The Guardian and Christopher at The Atlantic.

Magnolia

Year: 1999
Running time: 188 minutes
Certificate: 18
Language: English
Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Jeremy Blackman, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Phillip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melinda Dillon, Michael Bowen, Henry Gibson, Ricky Jay, Alfred Molina

Frank says goodbye to his father.

I'd already seen Boogie Nights and was blown away by it. Something in addition to that wonderful multiple-story-strands-intersecting type of film that I've always been a bit of a sucker for. I think it was the editing. Watching Boogie Nights felt so kinetic, like the camera didn't seem to stay still for a second, moving from one scene to another relentlessly. This was the impression the film gave, and I think the camerawork combined with the editing gave it that feel. With Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson honed and perfected a style he tried out in Boogie Nights and so it has that feel of restless movement again, but this time the director improved these aspects in every way.

Multiple characters and story strands overlap during the course of 24-hours in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, brought briefly together by chance and unusual weather. TV producer Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is dying of cancer. Old, and living entirely in bed, he has nothing to do but rest, think and ruminate on the past. He is married to Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore), who constantly appears to be in the middle of a meltdown. He is being looked after by nurse Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman). After listening to Earl talk about his estranged son, he attempts to make contact in the hope of reconciling them. Earl's son is Frank T. J. Mackey (Tom Cruise). Frank is a successful misogynist, making a living running stage shows / workshops for lonely men wanting to pick up women.

Jimmy Gator (Phillip Baker Hall) is a TV personality, hosting a quiz show featuring child contestants. Like Earl, Jimmy is also dying of cancer - he has about 2 months left. He is estranged from his daughter Claudia (Melora Walters), who hates him for some reason - we later learn the reason, which then causes his wife Rose (Melinda Dillon) to walk out on him. Jimmy feels suicidal. On Jimmy's show an extremely bright young boy named Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) is on a winning streak, while ex-extremely bright child quiz show star "Quiz Kid" Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has grown up and is now watching Stanley on TV while sitting in a bar lamenting unrequited love.

Conscientious police officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) is called to investigate reports of a disturbance at Claudia Gator's house and finds himself falling for her while spending the rest of his day dealing with a homicide and losing his gun in the process.

Jim and Claudia make tentative first steps.

The way Anderson weaves these characters around each other during the course of the film works wonderfully, and some scenes are hugely emotional. There is a theme throughout the film, which focuses on regret, and the long-reaching consequences our actions have on others - Linda Partridge regrets cheating on Earl throughout their relationship now that he is close to death, while he, on his deathbed, regrets cheating on a previous wife. Jimmy Gator regrets his actions that caused his daughter to hate him so. Even Frank, when he catches up to his dying father, whom he hated so much, crumbles, the regret now that it's too late to do anything plain on his anguished face. It's astonishingly powerful, and might still, 20 years on, be the best acting of Tom Cruise's career.

The film also makes reference to strange coincidences and unusual events that cause one event to unexpectedly cross paths with another. During the final hour, an event takes place that cause the hitherto unrelated strands to interact with each other, but this is only what Magnolia is about on the surface - there is much depth beneath. Frogs rain down on L.A. in an apparent biblical condemnation of these lost souls, but it's hard to read it like that - we've spent a long time in the company of these characters, and we know them a little. We know they're just alone, struggling with their past, desperate for love.

There are some left turns that could have gone very wrong, but Anderson makes them work beautifully. Aimee Mann provides the entire soundtrack and there is a moment in the film where the entire cast join in and sing along with the song Wise Up. It could have been so weird. It's wonderful.

But the absolute best thing about Magnolia is the ending. Focused on regret, death and some of the most difficult parts of human relationships, one of the more depressing moments is when Claudia, having agreed to go to dinner with a besotted Jim, loses her courage and runs out. The final scene of the film is just beautiful, where Jim arrives at Claudia's apartment and starts to explain how he wants to be there for her and to help her, his voice fades out and the camera focuses on her, and just before we cut to credits, she smiles and Mann's Save Me kicks off. It's such a poignantly joyful note to go out on, that you're uplifted in spite of the difficult subject matter that dominates the film's 3-hour running time.

Score: 9/10

Roger Ebert thought Magnolia was a great film - he even reviewed it twice. This is his second review, 9 years after its release and Nathan at The Dissolve compares it to Boogie Nights to examine Anderson's emerging film-making style.

The Hurt Locker

Year: 2008
Running time: 131 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Mark Boal
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring: Jeremy Renner, Anthony Mackie, David Morse, Evangeline Lilly, Brian Geraghty, Guy Pearce, Ralph Fiennes

Kathryn Bigelow is one of the most gifted directors of action there has ever been, and while Point Break is still her most infamous calling card, The Hurt Locker leaves Bodhi and co in the dust. Adrenaline-soaked tension permeates the film and it is one of the most intense films I've seen.

James focuses on nothing but the job at hand.

William James (Jeremy Renner) is the new bomb disposal technician joining a team of soldiers trying to keep some kind of order in occupied Baghdad. James is the replacement for the team's previous technician after he dies attempting to dispose of a bomb in an astonishing prologue set-piece, setting out from the start the magnitude of the stakes involved. James and his maverick approach to his work does not endear him to his new colleagues, J T Sanborn (Anthony Mackie) and Owen Eldridge (Brian Geraghty) and seeing as they need to rely on each other for their lives, this makes for a tense, unhappy environment for them.

The set-pieces are excruciating, each one framed, filmed, acted and edited so expertly as to be breath-taking. If there was any doubt from substandard efforts previously put out by Bigelow (K-19: The Widowmaker, for example), then this establishes beyond doubt that she is a master of her craft. There is a focus on the sheer exhaustion of the soldiers, both physically and mentally, stuck here in a situation they know to be largely hopeless. But the wider angle is also covered and in each terrifying firefight, each taut disposal sequence you are always sure of what is going on and where everyone is in relation to everyone else. The grasp of physical locations of characters in relation to each other and the events during an action sequence is something few people seem to get and Bigelow's grasp of it is equal to Spielberg, who is famous for being a master of it.

Failure in the field carries a high cost.

James manages to ride his luck all the way back home, and the scenes of him at home, lost, out of place, missing whatever it was he's got addicted to out in the field, are brief portraits of a man changed by military service into a person not remotely like the person he used to be (although this article from Walter at Vanity Fair suggests the point The Hurt Locker is making about addiction might miss the mark). So he goes back. I can't speak for him, I can't judge him; what right have I to? I've been through no experience in my life that can come anywhere near (and I fervently hope I never will). This article from Christopher at The Stranger talks a little about the ending and it's refusal to tell us what we should feel about James' decision to return to Baghdad. All I know is Kathryn Bigelow and her crew crafted one of the most intense cinematic experiences I've ever had.

I loved Avatar, but frankly The Hurt Locker is a better made, though less narratively-satisfying, film and Oscar made the right call choosing Bigelow over her ex-husband.

Score: 9/10

Reviews out there are generally glowing and rightly so - see this one from Anthony at The Independent and this one from A. O. Scott at The New York Times.

Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy

Year: 2004 (Shaun), 2007 (Fuzz), 2013 (World's End)
Running time: 99 minutes (Shaun), 121 minutes (Fuzz), 109 minutes (World's End)
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Simon Pegg, Edgar Wright
Director: Edgar Wright
Starring: Simon Pegg, Kate Ashfield, Nick Frost, Lucy Davis, Dylan Moran, Peter Serafinowicz, Bill Nighy, Penelope Wilton, Timothy Dalton, Martin Freeman, Jim Broadbent, Paddy Considine, Rafe Spall, Olivia Colman, Rosamund Pike, Eddie Marsan

It finally dawns on Shaun and Ed how much trouble they're in.

The Cornetto Trilogy is a collection of films written by Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright, with Pegg handling the lead roles and Wright directing. They are only loosely connected, all being about taking a UK-based setting that most of us would recognise and splicing in a story revolving around elements of different genres, alongside a hefty dose of comedy.

Shaun of the Dead was the first to arrive on the scene, and it probably remains the strongest (although it's close). Infused with a love of all things Romero, Shaun of the Dead is a zombie horror-comedy and is not nearly so bad as that makes it sound. Shaun (Pegg) shuffles obliviously through his life, surrounded by his flatmate Pete (Peter Serafinowicz), best friend Ed (Nick Frost) and girlfriend Liz (Kate Ashfield). None of them really get on apart from Shaun and Ed, and Shaun is struggling to keep his relationship with Liz alive.

The film does a decent job of subtly building up dread as Shaun goes about his day, oblivious to the zombie apocalypse taking place around him. It's a nice commentary about how most of us pay so little attention to what's around us that we might not even notice a zombie apocalypse until it bit us on the face. Luckily, Shaun and Ed do eventually notice, and after lobbing a load of vinyl at a couple of undead in the garden, Shaun hatches a plan to get everyone he knows safely tucked away in a local pub to wait out the whole messy episode.

Shaun takes the lead in the struggle to survive the zombie apocalypse.

The pub as a place of safety is a recognisable motif to probably half the country or more, so even though the unsuitability of Shaun's plan is obvious, it's hard to criticise him for it, because of course it was going to be the best idea he could come up with.

During the execution of his 'plan', poor Shaun gets put through the ringer as his mum (Penelope Wilton) and step-dad (Bill Nighy) have an unfortunate run-in with someone who, in his mum's words, was 'a bit bitey'. In the middle of the jokes and the horror, there is a moment when Shaun has to do the unimaginable, it is deftly handled, and a surprisingly straight-played bit of emotion in the midst of the mayhem. Shaun does eventually manage to get them to the pub, but of course, they still have to find a way to survive, and if there's a more quintessentially British way of dealing with zombies than beating them with pool cues to the strains of Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' in the middle of a pub, then I don't want to know about it.

Shaun of the Dead is full of those high-energy stylistic choices that have come to define Edgar Wright's film-making technique, and like most of Wright's films, the heightened pace and plentiful jump cuts work well and serve to set it apart a little from the slower-paced Romero zombie movies it homages so lovingly.

PC Angel and his new partner are on the case.

Hot Fuzz followed three years later, and this time round it was the humble action movie that got the Cornetto treatment. Pegg plays Nicholas Angel, a star cop in London who gets reassigned to the sleepy English town of Sandford by peers and superiors getting tired of being made to look bad in his shadow. His new partner is local bobby Danny Butterman (Frost). Danny is obsessed with action films and is sure Angel lived his life in London like a scene from Bad Boys.

Some unfortunate deaths, put down as accidents by the local force raise Angel's suspicions and he becomes convinced foul play is involved, and he proceeds to follow the clues (and the bodies, including one outrageously funny death-by-church-steeple), exposing a murderous underbelly hiding in this quiet, unassuming village.

Film stealer extraordinaire, Timothy Dalton.

Pegg and Frost continue to be an effective double act, and they are helped enormously by a superb supporting cast, including Bill Bailey, Olivia Coleman, Bill Nighy and MVP Timothy Dalton, practically stealing the film as Simon Skinner, local businessman and shady character. Wright's gift for a shot or scene is still very much in evidence, particularly in the climax, where Danny has a ball enacting moments from some of his favourite actioners Point Break and Bad Boys 2.

When we come back for a third helping in the shape of The World's End, we're in sci-fi territory; in particular the alien invasion sub-genre. Gary King (Pegg) is trying to organise a reunion of sorts, by trying to get his old school friends back together to recreate a legendary pub crawl from their youth, only this time actually make it to the end. Problem is, during the course of the evening they come to discover that people are being replaced by blue-blooded robotic clones.

A bad idea.

Such a setting is fertile ground for more Wright-conducted mayhem, with well-observed and beautifully delivered jokes fitting in around the energetically choreographed action. The World's End does stretch credibility a little further than the two films that came before it. While Shaun was only ever trying to get himself and his immediate circle of family and friends to a place of apparent safety, and Nicholas Angel was shown from the beginning to be a highly competent supercop and even then he solves a few murders in a quite English town, we are expected to swallow a climax in which the barely-functioning King saves the world from the invasion because the super-intelligent being at the heart of it just gets too annoyed with arguing with him. It's kind of worth it for the exasperated "Fuck it" with which 'The Network' signs off and abandons its plans.

The fact that the lead character is so difficult to like is a risk that on first viewing I thought was unnecessary, but I have since reappraised that initial reaction. The thing is, Gary King is suffering from depression. It's fairly well-known now that Pegg also struggled with depression, and so it turns out that rather than being that way just to piss everyone off, King's character is actually extremely well-observed, and that has the effect of actually enhancing the film, because his character is rooted in complex mental health issues, grounding him in reality, despite all the outlandish events surrounding him. This superb article from Rob at Daily Grindhouse explores the facets of how depression affects Gary King in greater depth and is a recommended read.

Gary and his mates come face to face with proof we're not alone. Then tell it to fuck off.

Three films, three love-letters to beloved genres, three slices of beautifully-mounted comedy/horror/action/sci-fi. Long may Wright, Pegg and Frost reign.

Score:
Shaun of the Dead: 8/10
Hot Fuzz: 8/10
The World's End: 8/10

Reviews out there tend to dig The Cornetto Trilogy the same as I do - see this review of Shaun of the Dead from Kim at Empire, this one of Hot Fuzz from Nathan at The A.V. Club and this one of The World's End from Matt at Roger Ebert.com.

Kiki's Delivery Service

Year: 1989
Running time: 103 minutes
Certificate: U
Language: Japanese
Screenplay: Hayao Miyazaki
Director: Hayao Miyazaki

Starring (voices): Minami Takayama, Rei Sakuma, Kappei Yamaguchi, Keiko Toda, Meiko Nobusawa, Kôichi Miura

Jiji clings on while Kiki delivers a package.

This is a truly wonderful film with a heart of gold. It manages that trick almost exclusive to Studio Ghibli films of being about nothing very much, but is still utterly engaging. Kiki (voiced by Minami Takayama in the Japanese language original and Kirsten Dunst in the English-language dub) is a young witch off to find her place in the world. Kiki is an infinitely resourceful girl and she meets the challenges she faces with a never-give-up attitude that leaves you helpless to do anything but root for her. Kiki and her scene-stealing black cat Jiji (Rei Sakuma) find a picturesque town to settle in, and they manage to find a spare room at a bakery and the friendly owner Osono (Keiko Toda) lets her stay.

Kiki also meets Tombo (Kappei Yamaguchi), a young boy smitten by the new witch in town. To begin with Kiki is less than impressed by Tombo's interest, but she slowly thaws and they become good friends. Kiki finds a niche and starts her own delivery business out of Osono's bakery and as her reputation grows she takes in some outlandish jobs and meets and helps a number of interesting characters along the way.

Kiki hitches a lift on the back of Tombo's bicycle.

Catchy music and beautiful animation combine with character-focused storytelling to make a thoroughly absorbing story (but what else would you expect from Studio Ghibli?). Kiki has a crisis of confidence and starts to lose her witchy powers, forgetting how to fly and understand Jiji. The surprisingly action-heavy final set piece involving a crashed dirigible sees Kiki risking all to save Tombo and securing a place in the hearts of the townspeople. It is beautifully realised and a genuine pleasure to watch.

Score: 8/10

It comes as no surprise at all to me to find that Kiki is universally loved, if these reviews by Mimo at Geeks and Charles at Indiewire are anything to go by.

Donnie Darko

Year: 2001
Running time: 113 minutes
Certificate: 15
Language: English
Screenplay: Richard Kelly
Director: Richard Kelly
Starring: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, James Duval, Holmes Osborne, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Daveigh Chase, Mary McDonnell, Patrick Swayze, Beth Grant, Drew Barrymore, Arthur Taxier

Donnie, Gretchen and Frank take in a movie.

Donnie Darko has been an unusual viewing experience for me. I've seen it 3 times now. The first time, the experience could be summed up as 'meh'. Didn't really like it much, thought the line "Go suck a fuck!" was funny. It left little lasting impression. For some reason I can no longer remember, I ended up watching it for a second time, where I enjoyed it much more. Don't quite know what the difference was, but significantly different it was. The third time round I was eager to see it again to see if I had changed again, and I only loved it more. It's now a firm favourite.

Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a bright yet troubled American high school student. He has a few friends and a family he just doesn't get on with. Donnie is awoken one night by a demon bunny named Frank (James Duval) and as a result narrowly escapes death when a jet engine falls out of the sky and lands in the bedroom he had just vacated. No-one but Donnie can see Frank, and the creepy-looking rabbit manipulates Donnie into carrying out a number of anarchic acts that have unforeseen consequences. He floods the school and meets Gretchen (Jena Malone) and starts a relationship. He is told about time travel and is led to a book about it by a teacher. Frank convinces Donnie to commit arson, burning down the house of Jim Cunningham (Patrick Swayze, clearly relishing playing against type). It turns out that Jim's house contains a hidden child porn stash.

Frank also warns Donnie about the impending end of the world, but this turns out to be on a smaller scale that you might think. Following a run-in with burglars on Halloween, Gretchen is accidentally run over and killed by Frank, dressed in a demon bunny costume, and is shot through the eye by a distraught Donnie in turn. This is the end of the world Donnie was warned about - warned by Frank, because it was the end of Frank's world.

Donnie tries to make sense of visions into another reality.

Except it isn't. When Donnie gets out of bed and avoids death-by-falling-jet-engine he sparks an alternate version of reality, which leads to these terrible events, and by the end he can see into the reality as is should be and is able to return to that moment. Given the choice, Donnie elects to preserve the original timeline, and stay in bad, getting crushed, thereby saving the lives of both Gretchen and Frank. Raise a glass to Donnie, unknown hero, sacrificing himself to save others.

In spite of a relatively minor budget, it is really wonderfully shot - a stand out scene being a dance performance by Sparkle Motion, a dance group of which Donnie's little sister Samantha (Daveigh Chase) is a member, set to Duran Duran's Notorious that is juxtaposed with Donnie's arson attack. It's entirely possible that setting a montage of shots to a piece of contemporary music is an overused trope in modern cinematic storytelling, both on TV and on the big screen, but when it's done well, it's wonderfully effective, and the final scenes of Donnie Darko are one of the best uses of it I've ever seen.

Sometimes it's worth giving things a second try and the way this has gone from underwhelming to one of my favourite films in three viewings is a case in point. Give it a try, and if you don't think much of it, give it another one.

Score: 9/10

There is a lot of interesting reading out there regarding Donnie Darko, in particular this piece arguing that the director's cut ruined it from the Supreme Being at Stand by for Mind Control, and this one from Greg at Little White Lies recalling how it literally changed his life, opening his eyes to a whole world of cinema.