Ponyo

Dir: Hayao Miyazaki

Narry B has been around the block a few times. He grew up on the streets. He's now sickened by the constant repetition of useless opinion that fills the internet. Where does this idea of mass opinion come from?

Ponyo is not a) "kid's film", and b) it is not a letdown for Miyazaki. Even if it was a "kid's film" (the very expression make's NB's skin crawl, ironing out the wrinkles on his sagging face), that would be all the more reason to go see it as hopefully it wouldn't have the same amorality and contrivision of "adult films". People better be purifying their hearts, and Ponyo's the way to do it!

It's genius from start to finish. Ponyo is visually sublime, storily captivating and musically entrancing. I don't normally get massively involved in the film, but when watching Ponyo I was moved to shout "Run, Sosuke!", or let out a gasp of shock as the waves tried to encroach him. Ponyo is so powerful that it touched this old man's heart.

As with all made in Japan films, the fact that you have to watch it in the original Japanese is blindingly obvious. Ponyo doesn't bother to explain everything (is that what being a "kid's film" means?) and leaves you in love with life and nature.

Genius!

Punchdrunk Love

Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Adam Sandler

PTA made my most hated movie of all time (I'll leave y'all to guess which one). It seems, however, that he can produce some magic.

What happens when a normal, albeit lonely, dude reaches the pits of despair and meets one helluva lady at the same time? Punchdrunk Love, my friends, is what happens. Somehow, the protagonist in this film manages to take things quite far but keeps it real at the same time. It's a thin line between passion and obsession.

Something just clicked for the NB with this film. Maybe the lead character reminded him worryingly of himself (at least the late 17th century Narry B, anyway), or maybe it was just that this is a moving story told with a nice touch of comedy and a great soundtrack.

It's not going to be everyone's cup of tea, and there were a few overtly 'indie' touches that seemed a bit contrived, but I'd say Punchdrunk Love is...

Genius!

Titanic (Smaltz Review)

Dir: James Cameron

Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Kate Winslet, Billy Zane

Never before has a film had so much hype, received so much praise from viewers and critics and then been the target of such a backlash. Its crime seemingly being that everyone was sick of the sight of it.

Smaltz hadn’t seen this film for a long time so it was a good opportunity to come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes… and it’s spectacular. However, unlike recent disaster films, the spectacle of the tragedy isn’t everything.This is a film of substance.

The story is one of class distinction in the early twentieth century with Kate Winslet trying to get out of an almost arranged marriage and escape the world she belongs to. It’s a young carefree American (DiCaprio) who shows her another way to live, much to the horror of her mother and fiancé (Zane).

This manages to be engrossing to the point that when the iceberg is spotted it still catches you by surprise.The last hour is spectacular, but not at the expense of the human drama. Indeed it shows how good a director Cameron is that the horror of the situation is not lost.

Scenes such as a mother in 3^rd class telling a story to her children as they sleep knowing they will never wake up and the string quartet realising they have nowhere to go so continue playing still make you shiver.

I’m going to stick my oar in dangerous water here by saying it manages to achieve the same level of scale with it’s story and tragedy as Kubrick's 2001 does with it’s visuals.

The quality throughout is superb with impeccable sets, an imaginative and effective score utilising synthetic choir sounds and despite some of the full scale shots of the ship in the first half not aging particularly well they do at least have a period painting look to them. Effects in the second half, however, are spot on!

Although Titanic leaves you with a feeling of loss for the main characters, the size of the real event is never lost.

Genius!

Dead Poets Society

Dir: Peter Weir
Starring: Robin Williams, That guy from House, and Ethan Hawkeye

I'm gonna let you in on a secret about Narry Borman's life: He's a teacher. He teaches you all about good and bad films, and he also teaches English to earn a living and support his blog writing.

Robin Williams is also a teacher in Dead Poets Society. In fact, he's about the best darn teacher I've seen on the big screen. In a very understated (unusual for Williams) way he inspires his students to live and, ultimately, die.

I don't think any other film has as potent and vital a message delivered in such a worthy and selfless way as DPS. It's littered with quotable lines and iconic moments. The students are really rather naive but they're sincere, which is kind of likable.

Probably my favourite 80's coming of age film.

Genius!

Groundhog Day

Dir: Harold Ramis
Starring: Bill Murray, Andy MacD

Narry B's not sure if its cool to like this film or not, but it is a modern classic.

It's funny without being stupid, interesting without being complicated, and romantic without being schmaltzy. And it has Bill Murray - a legend in the manner of John Barrymore, Geronimo or Joan of Arc.


Not having watched it for a long time, I thought it might have aged badly. Surprisingly, it hasn't (except for a few annoying yuppyish/early 90s cafe culture style references). It's a timeless film that I could watch everyday...

Final point of note goes to Andy MacDowell's hair. It's big! Man, those early 90s birds really knew how to grow a full head of hair. Narry B wishes Mrs. Narry B had that kind of hair, instead of her few remaining wiry ginger strands. A man can dream.

Rating: Genius!

V for Vendetta (Guest Review!)

Dir: James McTiegue

Starring: Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman, John Hurt

Hi I’m Roger Smaltz and welcome to my first guest review.

V for Vendetta tells the story of a terrorist refusing to accept the government's iron grip of society. Set in the near future, England is effectively under a dictatorship using the BTN (British Television Network) to convince everyone that things are better than ever. The story is based closely on a ten part series written by graphic novel supremo Alan Moore (Watchmen, Batman-The Killing Joke e.t.c.).

To be honest I wasn’t sure what to expect but let’s make this clear: Smaltz likes good sci-fi and hates bad sci-fi. I’m also rather partial to a good superhero adventure since those halcyon days of my childhood watching Adam West in tights.

To my delight V is a brilliant, all be it subversive take on the super hero genre. Hugo Weaving is superb as V despite never seeing his face. He is helped by some wonderful dialogue and his own sense of playfulness such as air conducting the 1812 overture to the destruction of the old bailey.

The combination of music and image is Kubrick-esque, thanks especially to the minimalist but effective score.

Whatever your cinematic preference V should be seen - particularly by those who thought that the Wachowski’s would never recover from the poopingly awful Matrix Reloaded.

Thanks to Narry B for accommodating my horse.

Rating: Genius!

Look out for Narry Borman's review of V coming soon.

Billy Liar

Dir: John Schlesinger
Starring: Tom Courtenay, Julie Christie
Year: 1963

They say that you should always shave with the grain. Narry Borman sometimes shaves against the grain 'cos it feels strange and it's a bit different.

I love Billy Liar. It's a great film - a brilliant idea put into action in a supreme way. It's been probably 5 years since I last saw it, so I was worried that it might not be as good as I remembered. But it was just as good.

Billy Liar is perhaps cinema's original imaginative, discontented kid, living in a dream world and almost unable to face reality as it is (look at Science of Sleep for the most recent, most crappy example). Julie Christie plays his kindred spirit, but Billy's so far gone that he even let's her slip by (if Julie Christie asked Narry Borman to go to London with her, he'd give up his day job as a testing guinea pig immediately).

Admittedly, this film goes against the grain of my normal taste - it has a thoroughly depressing atmosphere, particularly in the last 30 minutes. But NB sympathizes with Liar's dream world and 'immaturity'.

You can't fault the acting (Courtenay is legendary, Christie is delicious, Pickles is on fire, and Rossiter is snide as a pig). You can't fault the script. You can't fault the direction.

Conclusion, Genius!