042. Philomena (United Kingdom - 2013)

Simple film. A bit too simple. A biographical piece about a mother who's in a search for her son, taken from her 50 years before, when she was in a convent. She now asks a man (Martin Sixsmith, played by Steve Coogan, the beloved Alan Partridge) to write a book on her life, and what was just sessions of storytelling becomes a hunt for a long-lost son. Full of emotional clichés, the film didn't quite convince me, although it's well polished and with good enough performances from the actors. Very average film, about a theme that could also be considered average. Another one nominated for Best Film last Sunday, which I don't quite know why was there, if I'm being honest.

Director: Stephen Frears.

Score
Cinematography: 8.0
Acting: 8.5
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 7.5
Text: 7.5
Concept: 7.0
Premise Execution: 7.5


Average Score: 7.7

041. 12 Years a Slave (United Kingdom - 2013)

I was sobbing, I was speechless after we were done. This must be the most moving and socially relevant film made in the mainstream scene in the last five years or so. The conscience of human suffering that it awakens is remarkable. A truly moving experience, and a fine piece of art.

The beginning is just textbook editing all the way. We're showed the former situation of Solomon Northup's life before the film moves on to how he was kidnapped and sold to slavers. A black free man returned to his wretched past. The carnage of slavery in the mid-nineteenth century was still strong, unabating, and going southward. Lupita Nyong'o does an amazing job as Patsy (which earned her an Academy Award for Supporting Actress), and both Chiwetel Ejiofor and Michael Fassbender do a superb job in the protagonist-antagonist layer of the film. The storytelling is pristine, and no plot holes at all are left behind. The calm, thought provoking cinematography is also perfect.

12 Years a Slave is a film that doesn't come about too often. It's a story not only to be moved by, but also to reflect upon. The historical suffering of people can always be revisited by art; in fact, it must. Cinema serves well as a reminder of how society can be misled by dangerous conveniences and wrong perspectives. This film is an aesthetic portrait of that. 

Director: Steve McQueen

Score 
Cinematography: 9.5
Acting: 9.5
Editing: 9.0
Sound: 8.5
Text: 8.5
Concept: 8.5
Premise Execution: 9.5

Average Score: 9.0

037. Christopher and his Kind (United Kingdom - 2011)

This is a BBC television film. And there's not much to expect, especially while watching through the first sequences. It's a story with an interesting concept and background: the story of men who went to Berlin in the interbellum period to seek pleasure with other men, and all the turmoil that befalls them with the rise of the Nazists. Promising for a dramatic story in film. The problem is the poor cast, and poor direction of acting. When I say poor, I mean plainly mediocre. Nothing special, and it lowers the level of the storytelling. The protagonist, Christopher Isherwood is played by a forcefully posh-accented Englishman (the famous Eleventh Doctor from Doctor Who, Matt Smith), is uninteresting and completely passive in the role of being a protagonist, merely watching the story go by him, and not in the good, narrative-friendly sense. No, it'd be perfect that way. It's in the poor, "important character that doesn't develop and drags the whole cast and story down with him" fashion. An average film with great themes at hand and a strange way of executing them.
Just to balance things out a little more: the soundtrack is excellent.

Director: Geoffrey Sax.

Score
Cinematography: 7.5
Acting: 6.5
Editing: 7.0
Sound: 8.5
Text: 8.0
Concept: 8.0
Premise Execution: 6.0

Average Score: 7.3

036. The Big Lebowski (United States and United Kingdom - 1998)

[already watched before]

Sarcasm, anarchy, bowling, sunglasses and inappropriate clothing. It had been a long time since I had last watched this film, and I had forgotten how much of an emblematic figure The Dude is. He's the bum we'd all like to be when there's no reasonable perspective of life ahead of us. We envy his attitude, his stupidity, and in some parts, his brilliance. This film is a pathetic experience because it tells a pathetic story; the way it's meant to be told. There's almost no mismeasuring in The Big Lebowski. All the filmic tools that could be used to tell such a dark humoured saga of a loser is used. Although some vague sections could be done without, and some of the actors can lack verisimilitude, the film is pleasurable as hell.

Director: Coen Brothers.

Score

Cinematography: 8.0
Acting: 8.5
Editing: 8.0
Sound: 8.0
Text: 9.0
Concept: 9.0
Premise Execution: 9.0

Average Score: 8.5

025. The Shining (International Co-production - 1980)

This is one of the films I felt ashamed of never having watched before. We watched it on Sunday, and it was a curious experience. I expected more, having heard previously about the innovations it brought to the field of suspense/horror films. I didn't see much, to be honest. What I saw was a great acting by Jack Nicholson, and some nice props and brilliant editing and photography. That I already expected from Kubrick. But the annoying soundtrack - although it's highly atmospheric and composed to provide a purposefully bothersome sensation, it's way too loud for my ears to balance it with the images and text; it becomes a sensorial mess - and the predictable suspense disappointed me. I didn't see anything that special. It is, by far, the "least good" Kubrick film I've watched so far. Considering Clockwork Orange, Dr. Strangelove, Barry Lydon and the two short documentaries. I know, there's more to come.

Director: Stanley Kubrick.

Score
Cinematography: 9.0
Acting: 8.5
Editing: 9.0
Sound: 6.5
Text: 8.0
Concept: 7.0
Premise execution: 7.5

Average Score: 7.9

022. Barry Lyndon (United Kingdom - 1975)

An anti-epic, a brilliant story. A man is born in a fairly well-off family, and grows to be less and less proud of his background and his own merits. He kills an officer (a faked death by his tutors) and has to flee from his hometown and join the British army. A cruel and sometimes comedic adaptation of the picaresque The Luck of Barry Lyndon, by William M. Thackeray, it can be deceiving in showing the direction of Barry's misfortunes and joys. He is betrayed by hiw own foolishness and greed, and oftentimes finds himself in positions of moral dichotomy and mishandling of the power he is granted. A clever, sometimes laughable story of a privileged, mischievous young man. And here Kubrick shines in his eye for cinematography and sound. Although acting is not really big in Barry Lyndon, it obeys its own logic to the very end. Bravo.

Director: Stanley Kubrick.

Score (note: two new categories are being included here to enhance the judging patters - Concept and Execution)

Cinematography: 9.5
Acting: 7.0
Editing: 9.5
Sound: 9.5
Text: 9.0
Concept: 8.0
Premise execution: 8.5

Average Score: 8.7