Slumdog Millionaire

Posted on May 24, 2014 by jaycluitt

Jamal grew up in the slums of Mombai, orphaned at an early age and left with nothing in life but his older brother Salim and childhood friend Latika, from whom Jamal would soon become separated. Yet, somehow, Jamal has grown up and found himself on the television gameshow Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, and even more bizarrely, this barely-educated street rat – currently working as a chai wallah, or tea boy, at a call centre – is doing extremely well, and is a mere single question away from the maximum prize. How did he get so far? And can he make it to the end? Continue reading →

Shame

Posted on May 13, 2014 by jaycluitt

On the surface, Brandon has it all. He’s got a great job with colleagues he gets on with, a modern apartment in New York and a level of confidence and self-assurance that makes him a hit with the ladies. Plus, the dude looks like Michael Fassbender, which has to help a little bit. However, Brandon has a problem – several in fact. Firstly his work computer has just been taken away to repair a virus from all the porn he’s been downloading. Secondly, his messed up sister Sissy (Carey Mulligan) is about to fall back into his life. And thirdly, Brandon seems completely incapable of maintaining a relationship with anyone who doesn’t charge by the hour. Continue reading →

His Girl Friday

Posted on April 26, 2014 by jaycluitt

When I was a child, I remember wanting to be a journalist when I grew up. I liked writing, and was good at English at school, so it seemed the right thing to do would be continuing said activity into my adulthood. At the time this presented precious few options, with journalist or novelist being the most obvious and apparent to my juvenile outlook on life, and I’ve never been a terribly creative person, so the concept of coming up with fictional works was beyond me. It was settled then; I would be a journalist. I even undertook my obligatory two weeks work experience in Year 10 at the Southern Daily Echo, a local newspaper, where I actually wrote a couple or articles that were published under the editor’s name, and probably weren’t very good anyway. Needless to say, my journalism dream never quite solidified, as is the case with most childhood plans, and to be honest I’m not all that bothered, as judging by His Girl Friday I’d never be able to survive in such a world. Continue reading →

Performance

Posted on April 21, 2014 by jaycluitt

Chas (James Fox), a young gangster in late 1960s East London, runs into a spot of bother when he lets his personal history interfere with the latest hit. When he finds himself the next target for his former colleagues, Chas flees and searches for a place to lie low for a while. He stumbles upon a basement room that’s recently been vacated, and blags his way in. However, his new landlord is none other than former rockstar Turner (Mick Jagger), whose bohemian lifetstyle with live-in-lovers Pherber and Lucy (Anita Pallenberg and Michele Breton) isn’t exactly the kind of surroundings Chas is used to. Continue reading →

The Back to the Future Trilogy

Posted on April 18, 2014 by jaycluitt

Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), a young slacker who dreams of rock and roll stardom but lacks the courage to showcase his talents, finds himself in something of a unique situation when, during a late night experiment with his friend Dr. Emmet ‘Doc’ Brown (Christopher Lloyd), Marty is transported back in time 30 years to 1955. His only way back is to contact the 1955 Doc Brown to help fix the time machine, but in doing so he must also ensure that his own parents (Lea Thompson and Crispin Glover) – now the same age as Marty – get together, which is made all the more complicated by the fact that his own mother has taken a shine to him.
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Hotel Terminus: The Life and Times of Klaus Barbie

Posted on April 14, 2014 by jaycluitt

I think it’s time to come clean: I’m not a documentary guy. I’ve seen very few, and liked even less. To date, the only documentary I’ve watched that I have any inclination to see again is King of Kong, because fuck Billy Mitchell. I’ve seen Hoop Dreams – it’s OK, but I forgot a lot of it within a week, hence why I never got around to reviewing it for the 1001 Movies list, and thus why I’ll therefore have to watch it again eventually. Night and Fog and Land Without Bread both left me severely depressed, and were both reviewed during a period of my blogging life where I hadn’t quite worked out what I was doing yet, which should go some way to explain the 1/10 scores I gave them (although I kind of stand by that for Land Without Bread, because Luis Bunuel is an utter dick for what he did in order to make that film). Shoah moved me, but the 9 hour running time was almost unbearable. And so it is that on my list of Least Anticipated Movies on the 1001 List I have not one but two long-ass documentaries, with Hotel Terminus being neatly packaged with the similarly 4 1/2 hours long The Sorrow and The Pity, which I look forward to watching later this year. I don’t really know why I’m not a huge fan of documentaries – maybe I’m just not intelligent or receptive enough for them. I’ve had debates with colleagues before as to whether they can really be classed as films of not – I’m fine with the classification, but it seems many others are not – but that hasn’t stopped there being an awful lot included in the 1001 book. Continue reading →

The Natural

Posted on March 31, 2014 by jaycluitt

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My Own Private Idaho

Posted on March 29, 2014 by jaycluitt

This post was originally written as part of my Road Trip series over at French Toast Sunday.

Mike (River Phoenix) had a tough upbringing, not helped by being both homosexual and narcoleptic. Teenage and alone amongst the barren fields of Idaho, he moves to Seattle and becomes a street hustler and male prostitute, gaining friends amongst the small group of similarly disadvantaged youths in the same profession. Amongst these is Scott (Keanu Reeves), a Mayor’s son and the heir to his father’s fortune, but who is rebelling and living on the streets instead. When their squatting home is raided by the police, Mike and Scott begin a search for Mike’s mother, taking them on a journey back to Idaho, and eventually to Rome. Continue reading →

Metropolis

Posted on March 25, 2014 by jaycluitt

In a dystopian world, the people are split into two groups. The working class live underground, working arduous, back-breaking shifts in a giant factory before trudging home to their identical, depressing homes. The affluent upper class live lives of luxury, spending their time frolicking in the pleasure gardens amongst fountains and peacocks and attending shows, utterly oblivious to the hardship that keeps their way of life going, just beneath their feet. This world is run by Joh Frederson, a successful businessman who created this society. One day Joh’s son – brilliantly named Freder Fredersen – sees a strange girl showing a group of children from the working district what life is like on the surface. Freder heads below to find the girl and, upon seeing the horrific lifestyle of the workers, he sets about assisting a revolution. Meanwhile, Rotwang – an eccentric inventor who loved Freder’s deceased mother before Joh married her – has built a robotic Machine-Man who can be configured to look like anyone. Joh hopes to use this creation to quell the mutinous rumblings below.

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Casino

Posted on March 19, 2014 by jaycluitt

This post was originally written for French Toast Sunday as part of my Road Trip series.

Sam ‘Ace’ Rothstein (Robert De Niro) was handed it all on a silver platter. Put in charge of a new casino on the Las Vegas strip and living the life of luxury with his smokin’ girlfriend Ginger (Sharon Stone), Ace was at the top of his game. Alas, when his old friend from back home Nicky Santoro (Joe Pesci) shows up, Ace’s life becomes a little more complicated. Continue reading →