On Second Thought | the m0vie blog

My Best of 2011: Rango & Justifying Personal Choices…

Posted on December 20, 2011 by Darren

It’s that time of the year. To celebrate 2011, and the countdown to 2012, I’m going to count down my own twelve favourite films of the year, one a day until New Year’s Eve. I’m also going to talk a bit about how or why I chose them, and perhaps what makes this list “my” best of 2011, rather than any list claiming to be objective.

Rango is number twelve. Check out my original review here.

It’s December, so that means it’s list time. Critics and pundits will be ranking their “top ten” of everything, and I suppose that I should defer to tradition and offer my own opinion on the “top ten” films of the year. I don’t want to make just another list, though, lost in a sea of opinions of individuals far my experienced and qualified than myself to advise you on the current state of cinema. So I decided that I’d list my own personal choices, by talk about why I chose them and bit and why they appealed to me. I have, after all, already reviewed them all, so I’m not going to try to convince you of their quality (or even my opinion of their quality). Instead, I’m going to talk a bit about why they appealed to me. My list will undoubtedly look very different to yours and – I suspect – to the vast majority of opinions, but the fun in making lists like this lies in defending, debating and justifying your choices.

So, let’s talk about the bottom entry on the list, and the one I feel will be toughest to justify: Rango.

Continue reading →

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: best films of 2011, best of 2011, cinema, cinephile, films, Movies, my favourite films of 2011, Rango, review | Leave a comment »

On Second Thought: Apocalypse Now (Redux)

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Darren

I wrote in my review of the original version of the movie that the two-and-a-half-hour cut captured a great deal of the insanity that seems to have been a defining characteristic of the Vietnam War, with the movie feeling like a crazed surrealist trip into madness, a collection of abstract meditations on the American condition that felt compressed at over two hours. If that is the case, Apocalypse Now Redux captures another aspect of the conflict. It’s now less insane, but the instability and absurdity appear more systemic and endemic. It’s bloated, terrifying, harrowing and seemingly eternal.

Much like the war itself.

Back into the Heart of Darkness...

Continue reading →

Filed under: On Second Thought | Tagged: apocalypse now, Apocalypse Now Redux, directors cut, film, francis ford coppola, history, marlon brando, martin sheen, Movie, non-review review, review, Twentieth Century, United States, vietnam, Vietnam War | 6 Comments »

On Second Thoughts Re-View Review: The Town (Extended Cut)

Posted on January 17, 2011 by Darren

Sometimes when I see a movie a second time, I see a little bit more. Sometimes it’s watching an alternate cut or something, but it can be as simple as watching the movie a second time and knowing how it’ll end the whole way through. So I thought I’d try something new. I’d make notes on what I thought of certain films when I saw them a second time – let’s call it a “re-view review”, eh? Maybe they’ll become a semi-regular fixture.

When I first caught The Town, I admitted to being a bit disappointed with it. It was a good film, but it wasn’t quite as consistently brilliant as many people had led to me to believe. Don’t get me wrong – I enjoyed it (get more of my thoughts on it by checking out the review) but it just seemed like something was missing from the film, even if I didn’t know what. So, when dad returned from the video shop with it on Friday, we all sat down to watch the special “extended cut” of Ben Affleck’s film. And I absolutely loved it.