Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994) - Blu-ray Review

Review:

*Originally written September 5th, 2018*

There is so very little to cover with Four Weddings and a Funeral, so I'll keep it brief. It's your typical Richard Curtis affair, we've got the quirky British comedy, unearned sentimentality and Hugh Grant just being absolutely charming.

Richard Curtis is just such an awful writer, but there's something about his work that just keeps me coming back to it. This is one of the last of his films I had yet to see (With only The Boat that Rocked left to go). I can't quite put my finger on it. There just such easy watching, lowest of the low and easy to watch films.

It doesn't help that I find Hugh Grant just immensely charming either. He a borderline anime actor that is just the peak of British awkwardness, but every second he's on screen, I just eat it up. I don't understand. Help me, please. I know I'm better than enjoying tripe like this.

While it barely earns its 2 hour run time, there are some genuinely funny moments littered throughout and a lot of jokes that do not hit at all. I don't know, I need to rethink my life. I wish Richard Curtis made films more frequently. Shit, his next film is going to be directed by Danny Boyle. What the hell is going on? I also forgot this was from the director of Donnie Brasco. What?

The biggest shock I got from Four Weddings is the use of the line "Fuck-a-doodle-do" which I'd always associated with Shaun of the Dead, but I guess it came from this. I don't know how to process this. Richard Curtis has scrambled my brain. God bless you, Curtis. You absolute maniac of a writer with one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen. Never change.

"If you write a story about a soldier going AWOL and kidnapping a pregnant woman and finally shooting her in the head, it's called searingly realistic, even though it's never happened in the history of mankind. Whereas if you write about two people falling in love, which happens about a million times a day all over the world, for some reason or another, you're accused of writing something unrealistic and sentimental." Richard Curtis

If you needed anymore proof that Richard Curtis is an utter maniac, just read that quote above again.

6/10 Dans

Four Weddings and a Funeral is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK

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Interview with the Vampire (1994) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written October 4th, 2017*

"Suck me dry, Tom Cruise"

I rarely enjoy vampire films, and I'm not entirely sure why. I just find them generally boring for some reason. Even loved ones like Bram Stoker's Dracula, there's just something about that period setting that makes it a chore to get through.

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed Interview With the Vampire. Brad Pitt was great, as was a really young Kirsten Dunst. While Tom Cruise was easily the highlight as the villain. It's a shame he disappears for such a long stretch of the film. All the stuff between him and Pitt were my favourite parts. It was also a weird surprise to see Christian Slater in a film that wasn't straight-to-DVD.

It looks awesome. There's just something about '90s films that feel a lot better. The sets are all built and not CGI, the costumes look great and I love the smokey look of everything. I can't fault the atmosphere.

My main fault is really just how much things come to halt in the second half. The stuff in Paris is far less interesting than in New Orleans, although Antonio Banderas is clearly having fun with his campy role. 

I need to see more good vampire films like this. Enough so the word "Vampire" doesn't instantly put me off a film.

7/10 Dans

Interview with the Vampire is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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Leon: The Professional (1994) - Film Review

Review:

*Originally written July 27th, 2017*

*Director's Cut*

"No women. No kids"

It's a weird thing to say, but I always find it hardest to talk about my favourite films of all-time, as opposed to films I hate. Leon is a film I've loved since I was very, very young (I have hazy images of watching it on VHS when I was maybe 6 or 7? Then it become a film I would watch constantly on DVD as I got older, then Blu-ray, then hopefully 4K when that gets released in the UK. Don't know where I'm going with this.

Anyway, Leon is a film I adore. It's in my top five of all-time. There's just something about it that keeps me watching it. It's violent and tragic, but has genuine heart and sweetness to it. Kinda like Terminator 2 (Why the '90s were the best decade of films for me). It's a film that's inspired a lot of stuff I love and I still find out to be Luc Besson's best film by FAR. I honestly don't have much love for any of his films beside Leon.

Leon is a weird film, and that's only just hit me. It takes place in a world that is so far removed from the real world. It almost feels like a comic-book movie or a graphic novel brought to life (A bit like John Wick). This is a world where a 12 year old girl can be trained to be an assassin after a drug addicted maniac of a DEA agent murders her entire family with no repercussions at all. This is what I like about Besson at his best. He creates interesting worlds, but I feel this is his only real successful attempt.

Jean Reno gives what is easily his best performance as the childlike and naive hit-man Leon, who is clearly a bit slow and emotionally stunted. But this gives way to some scenes of genuine sweetness. One scene I really love is an early scene where Leon is watching a musical film at the cinema by himself and watching the film in some sort of childlike wonder. Leon's mentality also makes sure that the relationship between him and 12 year old Matilda is never creepy, despite the reverse Lolita like overtones.

Natalie Portman is also excellent in her breakout role and what is still probably her best performance. Despite her young age, she takes control of all the emotional scenes between her and Leon. 

The villain of the piece, Gary Oldman nearly steals the show as the utterly psychotic Stansfield, the drug addled DEA agent who is always at 11. Even with the over the top performance, there is enough minor and subtle tweaks that keep the character grounded within the world. I do also miss film villains with a love for classical music (God bless '80s and '90s action cinema).

With a film centred around an assassin training a 12 year old girl to be a cleaner, this could have been an over the top explotation film, which would have been fun, but what they went for is much more meaningful and heartfelt. The ending is one of the most beautiful scenes of film-making ever put on screen and will put a tear on the face of anyone who isn't a stone cold sociopath. 

There's been a lot of talk about a sequel to Leon following a grown up Matilda as a hit-man. Some of this talk is genuine, some of it is bullshit. 
Thankfully, it looks like that will never see the light of day as the script was turned into the standalone film 'Colombiana' instead, which has no connection to Leon. Thank god, this film does not need a sequel. It tells its story perfectly and making a sequel would only go against everything the film built up to.


I wish I could have worded all this better, but I love Leon. One of my favourite films ever and one I will always continue to pick up and watch every now and then. A career high for most people involved. A near peak for '90s cinema and one of the best films of all time.

10/10 Dans

Leon: The Professional is out now on Blu-ray and DVD in the UK
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