Film study… week 15

This week’s films are a combination of the endless list on my hard drive and some DVD’s brought home for watching by Barb and Hilt.

Good Night And Good Luck
Maybe I’m thick but I really had no idea what was going on in this one. Something about a senator in the 50’s unfairly accusing people of being communists being exposed by a TV presenter. It appeared not to have a beginning, a middle or an end. I was bored senseless.

"Once upon a time there was a man. He was born, he lived and he died. The End." Still more exciting than this film.

Hotaru No Haka (Graveyard Of The Fireflies)
This heartrending anime film tells the story of Seita who is forced to take care of his young sister Satsuko after losing both his parents during the Second World War. This really shows the civilian cost of war and is very hard to watch but worth the emotional upheaval.

You see, that's what happens when you buy brollies at Primark!

Tonari No Totoro (My Neighbour Totoro)
On the other end of the anime spectrum with have this glorious family adventure. Sisters Mei and Satsuki move to the countryside to be closer to their sick mother and discover that the woods near their house are filled with spirits, including a giant rabbit-like troll called Totoro. Seriously Disney has NOTHING on Miyazaki. If I ever have kids they’re only watching anime. Mei has got to be the cutest animated character ever. If you don’t want a catbus after this you have no soul… oh and by the way make sure you watch the Japanese version with subtitles, so much of the charm is in the little girls’ delivery of their lines.

You know that feeling, like there's a giant rabbit with an umbrella between you?

I Love You, Man

In this unusual take on a “romantic” comedy, newly engaged Peter (Paul Rudd) realises he has no one to ask to be his best man. When he meets Sydney (Jason Segel) it seems like fake but the course of true bromance never did run smooth and Peter’s cringeworthy social faux pas mixed with Sydney’s gob smacking honesty make for a film that’s amusing, if not quite difficult to watch.

When I said play that funky music, white boy, I didn't mean it literally

Crank: High Voltage
I liked the first Crank film even though it was action dross but the sequel is almost beyond words. If you put four fourteen year old boys in a room with enough speed, acid and PlayStation games to last a month and told them to write a film, this would pretty much be it. Halfway through I wanted to kill myself. I can’t imagine what on earth possessed even someone as unsophisticated as Jason Statham to accept this role. Avoid like the plague.

Your credibility went that way...