Here’s a controversial choice of films to see, the 2000 French film “Baise-Moi“.
The film, directed by Virginie Despentes and Coralie Trinh Thi, has been described as a hardcore version of “Thelma and Louise”.
The plot is quite simple: two ladies go on a violent spree across France, stealing, shooting and encountering random people and exacting revenge on the world.
“Armageddon” as a must watch movie? Have we lost our minds, we hear you ask. Do we really mean the science fiction disaster movie from 1998 directed by Michael Bay?
Yes, we do.
Is it really the worst movie of all time? No, definitely not.
Let’s pick out a few things. There’s a big cast of famous names… Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler…
It’s one of many films about giant rocks hitting the Earth and destroying all mankind, unless something can be done. So NASA enlist a group of oil drillers to go into space and blow the rock up.
Does it make sense? Not one jot, the science is pretty bad and we wouldn’t even begin to list the errors.
What about the acting? Well, the film is bigger than any of the actors and they all do what they have to do. Peter Stormare is great as the Russian cosmonaut, and Steve Buscemi is just annoying but the rest cope and Thornton is really rather good.
So, why did we pick it?
One of the purposes of a film can be to entertain, and, as long as you don’t think about it too hard, then it certainly does that. OK, the first part on the oil rig is dull, the scenes in training are pretty funny and the space bits are genuinely thrilling.
What about the effects? Well, there is some cgi, but not a lot. Most of the effects are models and practical effects, and they are to be admired and enjoyed. On a huge screen they look fine.
But the absolute highlight of this film is the music. Written by Trevor Rabin, who at one point was in the band Yes, it’s big, tuneful and really makes the film.
Despite all its faults, and an excessively weepy ending, it’s just great entertainment that does not take itself too seriously. The music just takes you through it and even Aerosmith can’t spoil it.
There were several films we considered for our list, but some just missed out. Here are two:
“Ed Wood” is Tim Burton’s 1994 biopic on the director of “Plan 9 From Outer Space”, the so-called worst movie of all time (it really isn’t). Johnny Depp is OK as the title character.
The script takes many liberties with the truth (don’t they all), and some of the characters are rather different from reality, especially Bela Lugosi, who was a cultured man who never swore. But Martin Landau’s portrayal is wonderful, Oscar winning stuff, of course.
And the photography is stunning.
Sadly, the presence of Bill Murray ultimately keeps it off our list of things to see.
“The Artist” caused a big stir when it came out, This French film from 2011 was hailed as a silent film with synchronised score, something of a novelty. Well, like Mel Brooks’ “Silent Movie”, it isn’t silent. As we know, up until the late 1920s silent films always had a live musical score, then a recorded synchronised score. There is nothing novel here.
It’s quite an entertaining film, a bit slow in the middle but worth a watch.
