Week 10: Rare Exports

Thursday, The Study, Teviot

Review to appear

Week 10: Die Hard

Directed by John McTiernan, 1988
131 minutes
22^nd November, Tuesday. The Study, Teviot.

Possibly the ultimate ‘anti-Christmas’ movie, Die Hard is a wonderful present that bundles action, thrill and humour.

New York cop John McClane (Bruce Willis) arrives in LA on Christmas Eve to visit his wife who recently accepted the vice-president position of a multinational corporation and before going to say hi to the kids, Holly (Bonnie Bedelia) asks him to stop by the office party that is currently going on in Nakatomi Plaza.

As soon as McClane gets there and takes off his shoes (something to do with travelling) terrorists take over the building, securing the entrance, the elevators and bringing a halting stop to the party we are introduced to the excellently named Hans Gruber (Alan Rickman). He wants access to the bank vault and when it is not given to him, he holds everyone hostage until he can break into it. Luckily for McClane, he is not amongst the hostages and manages to get to a safe place to try and formulate a plan to alert the authorities and save the hostages, especially his wife. Unluckily, he did not have time to put his shoes back on.

Willis moulds himself into a quick-thinking, smart-talking hero that has no time to think of the consequences and goes for everything full throttle. Balancing the scales we have Rickman who lends the film the ultimate villain quality – creating a character we all love to hate. At times he is manic but always completely focused on his goal even going as far as taking things into his own hands when McClane begins to frustrate him.

Completely enjoyable, never a let down, Die Hard is an action classic that you can enjoy every year. Even compared to today’s standards, it does not get much better than this.

Written by Raymah Tariq

Week 9: North by Northwest

Sunday 20^th Nov – Pleasance Theatre
Alfred Hitchcock, 1959, 131 min

Roger O. Thornhill (Cary Grant) your mild-mannered advertising executive is mistaken for a secret spy and interrogated by a gang of spies lead by Phillip Vandamm (James Mason). He must then avoid the agents and try to find out what the heck is going on. Along the way he is helped by an Eve Kendall (Eva Marie Saint) who is connected to Vandamm and appears to know more than she is willing to tell. Eventually meeting up with American spy leader he agrees to help bring down Vandamm and rescue Eve. The film climaxes in a chase scene through the woods and down the face of Mt. Rushmore.

Filmed between Vertigo (1958) and Psycho (1960), ‘North by Northwest’ is Hitchcock’s longest piece and is much lighter entertainment opposed to his previous thrillers. The backdrops particularly are far more striking; including the face of Mt. Rushmore and the crop-duster scene which has since become a legendary film moment. Thornhills resourcefulness in the face of danger is what saves him from near death and sets him apart from other Hitchcock heroes, such as when he’s stuck in the auction room and makes a big commotion so the police escort him out and away from Vandamms goons. WHERE’S HITCHCOCK? At the very beginning during the rush hour traffic he rushes to catch a bus only to have the door slam on his face.

A spy film without the gadgets of Mr. Bond and that subsequently does not suffer from the passage of time. Watch if you like ‘Quantum of Solace’, ‘The Bourne Identity’ or ‘Casablanca’.
Written by Huw Bowdler

Week 9: When Harry Met Sally

Directed by Rob Reiner, 1989
96 minutes
17^th November, Thursday. The Study, Teviot.

One of the two excellent Rob Reiner films that we are offering you this semester is also one of the classic benchmarks in romantic comedy.

Harry (Billy Crystal) meets Sally (Meg Ryan) when they both share a car ride to New York, Sally is full of prospect which Harry combats with cynicism and the trip becomes awkward they are both glad to be rid off each other.

But, as fate would have they would meet again a few years later and keep bumping into each other until they admit they would like to be friends, although Harry, in classic fashion argues that men and women can never be just friends.  And so begins a story of a strong and engaging friendship as Harry and Sally try to navigate their lives and loves until they finally realise what they really mean to each other.

The film’s main attribute is the excellent chemistry between its two leads. Crystal does likable guys so well and so is convincing as a man that always has something funny to say (or at least, always has something to say). Despite his initial impression on Sally we see that he is one of the nice guys, affable and kind. Whereas Sally is undoubtedly high maintenance, knows-what-she-likes type that gains your affection with that famous scene proving that she has a sense of humour about herself. A breakthrough role for Ryan that then saw her cast as the sweetheart in a number of films.

You wish they still made them like this, incredibly funny and endearing; When Harry Met Sally will make you laugh and on some level, mean something to you.

Written by Raymah Tariq

Week 9: This is Spın̈al Tap

Tuesday, Week 9, Teviot
1984, Dir: Rob Reiner, Running Time: 82 mins
Starring: Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer, Rob Reiner

When it comes to the antics of musicians, even Gaga cannot get near to the rock star for audaciousness. Prime example, Keith Moon drove a Lincoln Continental into the swimming pool of a Holiday Inn, after placing dynamite in the toilets. However, it is the 80’s hard rock/ metal band with their delusions of grandeur, big hair, ridiculous songs and overuse of spandex that This is Spın̈al Tap targets right from the very beginning with the delicacy of an Iommi riff and the precision of a Neil Peart drum solo.

The parody begins in the most obvious of places, the name. Motörhead, Mötley Crüe and Blue Öyster Cult are famous for their use of the “Heavy Metal umlaut” in their name. Spinal Tap went one further, placing an umlaut on the ‘n’ in Spınal, even though umlauts are only ever placed above vowels. Crazy right.

David St. Hubbins, Derek Smalls and Nigel Tufnel are Spınal Tap, a British metal band, complete with fake accents.  On their last legs, the band hopes that new album “Smell the Glove” and a subsequent tour will relaunch their career. Marty DiBergi (Reiner) documents the World Tour, complete with arguments, malfunctioning sets, numerous drummers and ridiculous song titles such as Big Bottom, Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight, Sex Farm and the epic Stonehenge.

The film was so convincing of its portrayal of rock stars that upon initial release many believed the band to be genuine, despite cameos from well known actors such as Billy Crystal. This resulted in Spınal Tap genuinely going on Tour, releasing further albums and, in 2009, playing both Wembley and Glastonbury on their “World Tour”. This is essential viewing for any fans of rock and comedy. Rest assured, we will have the speakers turned up to 11!

Mathew Seccombe

Week 8: Cave of Forgotten Dreams

Dir. Werner Herzog, 2010, 90min
Pleasance Theatre

In 1994, a group of archaeologists in southern France entered a previously unexplored cave containing—alongside the fossils and prints of animals, some of which have gone extinct—the oldest cave paintings ever discovered.  After obtaining permission from the French government to take a small crew into the Chauvet Cave, Werner Herzog created this documentary about an ancient artistic achievement he believes could represent nothing less than the birth of the modern human soul.

When these ancestors moved from tale-telling to the recording of their lives and thoughts onto these stone walls they were not as primitive as many might have thought.  Archaeologists actually found several techniques for the representation of movement in the paintings.  Not only is this the earliest known example of art in human history, it is already concerned not merely with recording the world, but depicting life as it is experienced, and it already possesses a sophistication in doing so.

The recent success of Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World likely has much to do with the fact that Herzog does not simply photograph people and events.  Like the artists of the cave, he conveys what he sees as the truth of a phenomenon.  It is about his perspective as well as his subject.  In Cave of Forgotten Dreams he does not simply tell us of a remarkable discovery, he explores the origin of our desire to express our inner lives.  One could almost say that as a filmmaker he has stumbled upon his roots, and in typical Herzog fashion he finds them not in something as obvious as the birth of the cinema, but the dawn of human art.

Written by Mr Phil

Week 8: Chinatown

Thursday 10^th Nov
The Study, Teviot
Directed by: Roman Polanski 1974, 130 min,

Private Detective “Jake” Gitts (Jack Nicholson) is hired to investigate a supposedly adulterous husband Hollis Mulwray. When the scandal breaks the papers, wife Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway) turns up to give Jake a shake down. Determined to prove his innocence, Jake sets about to find out what’s been happening behind the scenes. Meanwhile Mulwray ends up dead in a storm drain and water seems to be diverted outside of town where land is being bought up by retirement home residents and the recently departed.

A well acted film by both Nicholson and Dunaway where major and minor characters feel fleshed out, with the own quirks and personas, from the brutish slob lamenting his wife’s debauchery, the weaselly hit-man (played by Polanski himself) to the snotty clerk in the records department. Set in a hard and gritty city that matches the tone of the film whilst remaining believable. Ending with the famous line ‘Forget it Jake it’s Chinatown’ representing failure, bad luck, and being out of your depth in something you don’t understand (like being put in a Chinatown, a microcosm of a town with a vastly different culture and ethos and where problems are often taken care of behind closed doors).

A classic crime film, that ends on an unforgettable dark turn. Watch if you like ‘A Touch of Evil’, ‘Shutter Island’ or ‘The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo’.

Written by Huw Bowdler