The Seventh Seal

Death Can't Be Cheated, But Can He Be Beaten?

"Antonios: You'll be black, I'll be white. 
       Death: Seems fitting doesn't it..."

Ingmar Bergman portrays a tale of bleak hope and the test of faith in this Sweedish drama of life and death set during the plague of the dark ages in Europe. When tiring knight Antonios Block and his squire return home from the crusades, he is faced by death himself. Rather than surrender his life so easily, he instead wagers his fate by the outcome of a game of chess. By doing this Antonious is made to use all his knowledge and faith to try and avoid joining the numbers that are rising during this dark time.

Though mainly releasing comedies and more light-hearted films throughout his career, Bergman  instead chooses to focus on a bleaker time in this drama and asks the question, can anyone actually beat and overcome death? The film overall depicts a barbaric time where people clutched onto fate as one only real chance of hope, in one scene in particular, a woman is being burnt for she is believed to be a witch, but it's clear that all she really is, is afraid. I was quite surprised about what this film was actually about when I came to watch it. I thought the main chunk of the film would be the game of chess between Antonios and death, but it was more a representation of people's morals and ethics during the time. The married actors and their newborn baby struggling to find peace and respect. The love triangle of adultery and promiscuity, and of course the tormented knights returning out of the frying pan into the fire. The film really hones in on these characters and focusses the plot around all of them banding together in search of refuge against the plague. Death, despite being a key character, only features a handful of times whereby he and Antonios would continue their game (thus taking the films entirety to end).

When the film started on the beach when Antonios first meets death, it showed real promise, but I began to question where it was actually taking me and how I felt about what was going on. However, I feel that this may have been Bergamn's design, making us question religion, what happens when we die and also giving a true representation of the time it was set. It was a film that went onto inspire many people, and films (the most famous perhaps being Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey where they play Battleships against death, then Cludo and Twister beating death every time). Though maybe not a film that has aged the best, it opened up many doors for people in cinema and made audiences see a darker yet perhaps more truthful side to Bergman's directing, leading it to be a film praised by critics to date. Maybe not one for younger audiences but still a film definitely worth seeing.

7/10

The Graduate

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The Big Lebowski

He Went Out In Search of A Rug But Found So Much More

Director: The Coen Brothers
Release Date: 1998
Rating: 18
Running Time: 110 mins
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Actors: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Jullianne Moore

"The rug really tied the room together"

When his rug is stolen by criminals after he is mistaken for Billionaire Jeffrey "The Big" Lebowkski, The Dude (Bridges) sets off in search of the illusive man in the hope of finding the men responsible for this theft in the hope of being lead to his rug. Though from one problem spiralling into another, The Dude and his buddies Walter (Goodman) and Donnie (Buscemi) are roped into a conspiracy involving the kidnapping of The Big Lebowski's young newly wedded wife. Held at ransom for a considerable amount of money and after being sent her toe in the mail, The Dude and his friends have got to try and come up with away to rescue Mrs Lebowski before they're sent any other part of her, but also most importantly...find his rug.

There's no doubt the Coen's pride themselves on their humour, their dark yet at the same time effectively light hearted narratives, but most of all there's no doubt they pride themselves on laying out a complicated film riddled with twists and turns only really to find out the whole thing is a bit of a farce. Spun into a web of lies, deceit and foolishness, The Big Lebowski becomes a film that no one can fully understand what is going on at first viewing, but will soon turn out to be a fantastically spun comedy.

Jeff Bridges and John Goodman without a doubt make a fantastic double act as The Dude and Walter; who as a duo manage to find the line between perfect comedy, heart-warming bromance and lovers tiffs. It's obvious that the two have some deep problems: The Dude being a lazy unemployed stoner who will nearly always leave the house in just a dressing gown and underwear not giving a damn. And Walter, a short tempered ex Vietnam Vet who as a result will often act rashly and spontaneously resulting in some fantastic consequences, (throwing the blackmailers a duffle bag of dirty underwear oppose to money, smashing up a strangers car and of course biting off a mans ear). Both men share a common view that when all else fails, go bowling.

With the help of The Big Lebowski's daughter Maude (Julianne Moore), The Dude searches for the missing Lebowski and thus begins a story like no other. For me, this is still one of the funniest films of it's generation and though you may not know completely what is actually going you, you'll enjoy it none the less.

9/10

Witness For The Prosecution

Guilt or Not Guilty?

Director: Billy Wilder
Release Date: 1957
Rating: U
Running Time: 115 mins
Genre: Noir/ Courtroom Drama
Actors: Charles Laughton, Tyrone Power, Marlene Deitrich

Billy Wilder takes on Agatha Christie after writing and directing this noir courtroom drama of a man, Leonard Vole (Tyrone Power) pleading his innocence for a murder he is accused of commuting. It will take the brain power of lawyer, Sir Wilfred Robarts (Charles Laughton), the most successful but angry barrister in England, to prove Vole's innocence whilst all the evidence builds up against them. But it may take more than a good lawyer for the jury as the evidence stacks up against Vole with an almost certain death penalty awaiting him.

Witness For The Prosecution like such films as 12 Angry Men before it, forces the audience to question their own thoughts and morality in proving a man's innocence or guilt. Though maybe not a film that would appeal to a large audience, especially given its age and plot, it is a film that would be able to grab any person and keep them thoroughly entertained throughout. Maybe not a Wilder film that has necersarily aged the best, it still holds up as a classic that audiences can still appreciate.

One of the most edge of the knife dramas from the 1950's, another masterpiece by the incredible Billy Wilder who has once again managed to find the perfect balance between the noir suspense and comedy.

8/10

Lucy

One Girl You Will Not Want To Mess With

Director: Luc Besson
Release Date: 2014
Rating: 15
Running Time: 85 mins
Genre: Sci-fi/Action/Thriller
Actors: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Min-ski Choi

If you haven't heard the name Luc Besson, you would surely be familiar with his work. He's director, screenwriter and producer who has been behind some big blockbusters over the past two decades: Leon, The Fifth Element, The Family, Taken, The Transporter, District 13; the list can go on and on. So now the auteur has decided to, what feels like, take on Limitless with this sci-fi thriller that shows us what could be possible if we could access 100% of our brain power, 10 times more than we can actually use.

Combining two stories, we begin with Lucy, a naive 25 year old girl working in Taiwan, who is conned into delivering a briefcase to a kingpin drug lord. Unaware of what might happen, Lucy enters into the nightmarish world and is consequently forced to be a drug mule after having a bag containing a new drug inserted into her and made to board a plane to Paris in order to successfully smuggle the drug into Europe. However, plans begin to change when the bag ends up leaking the drug into Lucy's blood, causing it to have unbelievable results. Lucy then looks for the help of neuro scientists and lecturer Morgan Freeman for some form of explanation as to what's happening, but it's not long before Lucy after only a few hours gains more knowledge than him and could potentially have the answers he's been looking for all his life.

Though this film has an exciting plot line, I feel like it almost tries too hard to confuse audiences and to be quite honest, at the end of the film I wanted to put it straight back to the beginning and watch it all over again, as there was just too much information to take it. There's no denying it was an incredibly interesting film that makes you think about life and how the mind works, but this film made mine work a little bit too hard and will take several viewings to fully understand everything Luc Besson is throwing at us.

Leaving most of the exposition down to Morgan Freeman, lecturing a roomful of students in Paris, we learn the brains capabilities in animals and humans a like and we're taught about the significance of the brains capabilities along with what could happen if this could expand. Through unique cinematography in action films, we're shown real life footage of animals and primates representing the evolutionary scale of what we've achieved.

Scarlett Johansson is left to the action side of the film and proves herself as a more than capable badass. After seeing Johansson in other films such as the Marvel series as Black Widow, the actress pushing thirty is certainly making her mark as a female action hero and still at quite a young age, taking the reigns from Angelena Jolie, Uma Therman and Sigornier Weaver previously, showing us that Johansson could just be the female action hero to look out for at the moment.Hopefully now she's settling into these rather badass roles, this won't be the last we see of Scarlett Johansson kicking some ass.

6/10