Ran

Genre:Drama, Action, War

Year of Release: 1985

Director: Akira Kurosawa (a legend)

This film is great and I think i will enjoy it with future viewing as always seem to enjoy most movies better the second time. This is truly Kurosawa great work. Ran however not as good as Seven Samurai or Rushomon but is still quite up there in my favorite Kurosawa films.

The story of ran is that of Lord Hidetora Ichimonji who gives his land and castles to his three sons whom betray him in some of the most outrageous ways. Made by one of the greatest directors ever this film is one of his best. The first scene of battle is one which will stay with me for ever, it is in my opinion one of the greatest scenes of all time. The acting as per usual was great, I felt bad for Lord Hidetora as he was only kind to his sons but the sons quite badly betray him.

The first scene of battle, wow was a dramatic experience. What Kurosawa has done for this scene is got rid of the sound and we are left with these scenes of brutal murder and the music, this enhances the feeling of betrayal and is what makes this movie great. This scene is very powerful it makes you feel for Lord Hidetora it is sad and absolutely wonderful.

Kurosawa has made this movie very well, it has a great story and works quite well on the characters. Lord Hidetora is quite a good character and the same can be said about Kyoami played by Peter (weird name no last name just Peter) who is quite funny at times. He is very loyal to Lord Hidetora however enjoys making fun of him.

The score in this movie is also quite good very Japanese epically the scene i mentioned earlier. Ran is quite well paced it does not rush nor get boring it simple flows sweetly through the story.

Although this movie could never beat Seven Samurai on my list favorite movies it is still a kick ass story will some astonishing betrayals.

8.5/10

High Noon

Genre:Western, Drama

Year of release: 1952

Director:Fred Zinnermann

This is one of my favorite westerns, not quite as good as The Good the Bad and the Ugly or Once upon a time in the West but defiantly awesome. I was not over hyped for it but had been wanting to give it a shot for a while, i think that helped as I can imagine over hyping this movie and not seeing the pure brilliance in it (like i accidentally did for Seven and Pan's Labyrinth).

High Noon is about a sheriff called Marshal Will Kane who recently arrested a criminal Frank Miller, Frank Miller swore his revenge on this sheriff and the politicians up north for some reason let him lose. Frank Miller is coming on the noon train to get his revenge. I personally liked the acting in this Gary Cooper was great and the music which set a good mood even though it is played a million times in this movie i still managed to enjoy it. I thought the story was quite good and I felt sorry for the Kane as he tries to get town to help him take down Frank Miller and his results are not as good as I would have imagined. I liked how all the citizens were not on the good guys side, it was not cliche, many of them rooted for Frank. All in all a great movie worthy of a watch.

I am not sure and this could be coincidence but I am thinking it might be possible that this movie inspired an aspect in the graphic novel I just finished. Slowly counting down to 12 o'clock using a clock. I am probably wrong but it is possible.

One major thing I enjoyed was how Kane who had apparently cleaned this town up from a real mess where you could not walk down a street safely and had worked for many years and been such a great sheriff to the town could have so many friends of Frank in the town that were all rooting for him to be killed. Kane really struggles to find help people in the town are too shy, too young, too old there are so many excuses they have even trying to blame him. Kane had just been married and his wife (Grace Kelly) who wants him to leave the town and go on their honeymoon and says its me or the job.

I enjoyed how this movie was simple laid back and not rushing through things like a lot of Hollywood newer money making action movies do. I like a nice easy to follow story some times a bit like Fargo. Not to say that fast paced movies are bad but just that this movie would be if it was fast paced.

In conclusion a great movie. Kicks a lot of ass. Nice and simple. Good music. Great acting. Cool story. Classic western movie.

8.5/10

The Great Dictator

Genre: Comedy
Year: 1940
Director: Charles Chaplin

"Look up, Hannah! The soul of man has been given wings and at last he is beginning to fly. He is flying into the rainbow! Into the light of hope, into the future! The glorious future, that belongs to you, to me and to all of us. Look up, Hannah. Look up!"

To tell the truth i though this movie would not be funny, this is the first Chaplin movie I have watched, I though it was going to be a silly, outdated movie that i would at most give a ha to. How i was wrong. Although some of the jokes are slightly silly and maybe even childish, I still got sore from laughing especially the Jewish barbers character.

This movies tells the story of a Jewish barber and his story through the army and the ghetto, as well as a dictator resembling/taking the piss out of Hitler called Adenoid Hynkel. It had me laughing out loud almost the whole way. Some of the jokes I found unfunny for instance falling over isn't as funny as it was in the 40s i assume but apart from only a very few scenes this movie is a hilarious classic.

The Jewish Barber was incredibly hilarious through his personality and in some very funny parts his amnesia which he requires. His brave, simple minded character I very much liked his character. I enjoyed watching him do his walk and although he was not stupid at some times he did not seem incredibly bright.

Hynkel was not quite so good however still managed to be quite funny at times. His character is the complete oposite to the barber he is is loud and dumb and this was intended as you will see why by the end. Hynkel is a definate reference to hitler and wants to take over the world.

This movie takes the piss quite badly out of the german language, so if you are german might want a warning in the long run however your German language is really quite angry and many of the words do sound like "fluten" so sooner or later some one was bound to take the piss.

The acting was alright mainly lead by chaplin obviously but nothing to amazing as in my opinon good acting is for the more serious movies, so this movie did not need the acting to be done by Robert De'niro or Al Pacino.

In conclusion a great movie well worth the praise the critics give it. It has great jokes and I like the story aswell. My personal 2cnd favorite comedy 1st Dr Strangelove. Chaplin your the man!

9/10