Double Indemnity (1944) review

Hailed by many as the greatest Film-Noir of all time, I was definitely in need of checking out Double Indemnity. As someone who is growing a love for classic films, I decided not to have any sort of high expectations and thankfully, Double Indemnity is not only an intriguing film but it is a film as close to perfect as possible. It does something interesting that most films at the time of its release would never have done, which is reveal the big “secret” within the opening minutes hence allowing the audience to be fully invested within the characters and in order for them to effectively enjoy the film that much more.

Fred MacMurray plays a salesman named Walter Neff who recounts the events leading to the death of Mr Dietrichson, as he meets Ms Dietrichson and forms a strange affair with her. The strange affair leads to the seductive Phyllis Dietrichson persuading Walter to join her in a scheme to kill her husband and in order to receive an indemnity. Realizing that there is indeed ‘a double indemnity’ if killed on a train, they agree to do so but an insurance manager, Keyes, shows his suspicion about the death of Mr Dietrichson and attempts to solve the crime.

Billy Wilder’s Double Indemnity is one of the greatest films from the Golden Age of cinema, featuring fantastic performances by Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck, who resemble and embody the characters. Barbara is shown as a rather lifeless woman, yet seductive especially how she initially acts around Neff. Walter is portrayed as a rather wise and cunning man, as portrayed at the end of the film. Keyes, played by Edward Robinson was truly fantastic in his role as he truly embodies every bit of characterization of Keyes. He outsmarts those around him, his determination to solve the death is evident and his inability to be fooled is quite easily evident.

The story is fantastic, complex and deeply layered giving each character enough depth, even Mr Dietrichson’s daughter. Each character is still easy to understand and their motivations are clear. The story telling structure is very clever and how the story unfolds is even better. The cinematography is gorgeous, the lighting often stands out.

It isn’t just a crime/drama tale. It has all the essentials for a masterpiece with an ability to mix in various genres such as thriller and romance. With this, Wilder accomplishes far more than he otherwise would have. A near perfect film that exceeds in every department of film making. 

Grade- 10/10

Jaws (1975) review

Jaws was the first major blockbuster to ever be released and hence it is a revolutionary piece of cinema. To think that by now, all Speilberg had to do was create a simplistic story about a killer shark and only show it very briefly in order to gain a masterpiece. Indeed one of his best films, I’d rank it his second finest next to Raiders of the Lost Ark.

During shooting of the film, there was much production problems especially with creating a larger than life shark and make it convincing. Eventually they settled into using the shark only at the most desperate moments and hence, created a film so extraordinarily brilliant that all it took was glimpses of the shark and one of the most simplistic premises. A police chief named Brody, a shark hunter named Quint and a scientist must work together to catch and kill this shark before further mayhem is ensued.

A very simplistic premise and incredibly effective, Jaws heavily relies on fantastic characters which it masterfully achieves. Quint is clearly shown, from the moment where he scrapes his fingers on a chalkboard, to be a troubled man. His hate for sharks is evident throughout the film in one of the best scenes, where he recounts a story about a killer shark wiping out the majority of passengers on an expedition. Hooper is the comedic relief character and whilst the least interesting of the trio, is provided with fantastic sequences. Brody is a guilt stricken man who feels heavily responsible for the death of a young boy and girl, thus convincing him that he must head out to kill the shark. His character is given fantastic depth, especially a fantastic scene at the dinner table with his young son as they imitate one another. This shows that whilst he is guilt stricken, he is still and he is only human. Quint is introduced in one of the greatest and most memorable ways as he scrapes his fingers on a chalkboard. The sound alone is irritating and attention grabbing and the scene, whilst definitely not annoying is most definitely memorable. He proves later to be the best character of the film.

Speilberg’s directing is absolutely brilliant perfectly allowing the story to unfold smoothly. His brilliant use of the shark and the effective characters and simplistic story gives extra layers to an otherwise fascinating story. Despite no shark present for the majority of the film, its presence is felt the entire way through as a result of fantastic directing. The script too, is extremely engaging and John Williams’ memorable score makes the film all the better. Speilberg has revealed that half of the success of Jaws is due to the score, which has become one of the most identifiable pieces of music ever put to film, right up there with various other John Williams classic tunes. The cinematography and the various tricks used to enlarge the shark is brilliant seeing as how much production problems rose with the film.

The pacing to the film is perfect. The first hour masterfully builds up mystery and suspense and the second half completely delivers, providing some incredible suspense and humor in the mix. The chemistry between Roy Schneider, Robert Shaw and Richard Dreyfuss was amazing as the three resembled the ideal movie trio. Thankfully, the production problems were overlooked by the cast and crew and what we have now is one of the all time greatest films and one of the most unforgettable movie scores. 

Grade- 10/10

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (1984) review

To this day, I cannot quite put together the criticisms laid to this film. Surely, it isn’t the best Indiana Jones film but it comes so mighty close. One of the best aspects of the film for me, is what is considered the biggest issue of the film which would be the drastic change in tone from a rather light hearted film with dark moments to an extremely dark film, containing light enough moments.

Indiana Jones, following an escape from Lao Che, finds himself crash landing a plane nearby an Indian village. Here, he is told that the children have all but being taken from them to work at Pankot Palace, where evil has once more being brewing. During the kidnapping of all the children, it is said that a sacred stone called the Shankara was taken from their village. Indiana vows to return the Sankara stone back to the village as well as all of their children as he ventures with his young friend, Short Round and the irritating singer, Willie.

Whenever people refer to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, they always list the complaints about the film which truly sickens me. It’s excessive dark content and the irritating Willie. I personally loved both. Willie is most definitely an irritating character and about as irritating as one could get but thankfully, Speilberg and Lucas were well aware of this before hand and as a result, to add some great comedic moments have her character constantly punished. As for the dark content, I can only praise Lucas and Speilberg from taking a completely different view for this film and their bravery to make a prequel to a beloved film be one with a completely different tone. Even with the incredibly dark content, this is most definitely still an Indiana Jones film. It has the same wit, same humour and the brilliant stunt work and action sequences that make this a very, very worthy prequel to the great, Raiders of the Lost Ark. In terms of action, Temple of Doom surpasses Raiders of the Lost Ark however, in terms of the plot and characters, Raiders is clearly superior.

John Williams created a truly memorable musical score with Raiders of the Lost Ark. His iconic soundtrack featured the fantastic score following Marion Ravenwood’s death, which was a very powerful piece of music. In Temple of Doom, he creates an even more powerful and epic musical score featuring the March of the Slave children. This score is such a brilliant piece of work by the legend John Williams, that I happen to prefer it over the score in Raiders.

The underground tunnel chase and the sequence on the bridge is the greatest climax put onto an Indiana Jones film and is one of the most memorable in my opinion. It features brilliant comedy, very gritty and dark stunt work and some incredible action sequences which are just a delight on screen. The parody of the swordsman in Raiders of the Lost Ark works perfectly as one of the film’s finest comedic moments. 

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom is the most controversial of the franchise but is better than the original in some ways. Even if the film isn’t overall, nearly as perfect as Raiders of the Lost Ark, it is nevertheless a brilliant piece of entertainment and one of master director, Steven Speilberg’s finest films. 

Grade- 10/10

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) review

To put it in simple terms, Raiders of the Lost Ark is one of the greatest and most revolutionary films ever made and is quite possibly, legendary director Steven Speilberg’s masterpiece which says a lot. 1981 introduced us to who is quite possibly, the greatest movie character ever put to film. To that, I am ever so grateful

Indiana Jones is an archaeologist who goes after rare artefacts as a means to try and return them where they need to be. He finds himself having to go on an adventure to relocate the Lost Ark of the Covanent and take it away before the Nazis, who are looking for it in order to have complete dominion during the ongoing war.

There is the story and there is an unforgettable storyline that every man on the planet knows about. The opening scene in the film, involving Indy, his whip and the search for the Golden Buddha is definitely, one of the greatest introductions ever put to film. The moment you see a long shot of Indiana Jones, you are immediately felt a presence and his entrance into the film with the whip and emerging through the smoke, is to this day, one of the most iconic entrances made by a character. Up there with the one from The Third Man and possibly Darth Vader, in Star Wars. John Williams creates a fantastic opening theme, that is before the action starts taking place, that itself is full of purpose and tension. There is a certain mystery about the character that is felt through the brilliance of that score. The opening scene is so perfect but the most perfect aspect of it is how it added no development to the basic plot of the film but is simply used as a method to get to know various characters and their actions and motivations. We see Belloq through this opening scene and we are immediately given a hint as to who he may be. We are fully exposed to Indiana Jones and we already feel a certain charm about his character and we are already taken in by the atmosphere created by Speilberg and Lucas. 

Much like the original Star Wars trilogy, despite being amazing films, the performances aren’t the strength of those films like in other films such as The Godfather. It is purely in the story, characters and atmosphere created. Whilst the majority of the performances are undoubtedly fantastic, especially those by Harrison Ford, John Rhys Davies and Paul Freeman, the strength to Raiders of the Lost Ark lies solely in the story and character department. The action sequences in this film to this day, are breathtaking. Whilst even my favourite movie, The Lord of the Rings, has a few action sequences where I tend to take my eye off the screen, when watching Raiders of the Lost Ark I feel like Malcolmn McDowell’s character from ‘A Clockwork Orange’ when he is receiving his treatment to emerge a better man to society! They are some of the best put to film and is the pure definition of entertainment. The truck chase sequence towards the end of the film, to this day, is the greatest chase ever shown on film. The John Williams score, once more, adds it to another level and is one of the most iconic pieces of music made. Most iconic scores are made by this legend and all are unforgettable, taking the film to another extent. They dance around to the film, as if they are its own thing yet they fit perfectly with the context of the film and its overall tone.

Speilberg’s direction is absolutely flawless. This is indeed, one of the few ‘perfect’ films I’ve ever come across, a few others being Pulp Fiction, Empire Strikes Back and The Godfather. The story and dialogue is once more, flawless. I cannot praise enough how much I just love this film. Other cast members, especially Karen Allen does a great job as the lovely Marion Ravenwood, who is without a doubt, the best sidekick of a girl that has possibly being put to film. Just like Ford, she brings a real charm to the screen and her presence feels like an adventure of its own. That’s what a brilliant film does!

Raiders of the Lost Ark is quite possibly one of the top ten greatest films ever made. It is absolutely hilarious, action packed, full of tension, a sense of awe and wonder and displays the mythical element of the film flawlessly. To keep it short, Raiders of the Lost Ark can simply be described through the word ‘flawless’ 

Grade- 10/10 all the way!!!

#4- Pulp Fiction (1994) review

Just before the release of Pulp Fiction, Quentin Tarantino wasn’t a big name in the movie industry at that time, like directors such as Martin Scorsese. However, following the release of Pulp Fiction, Tarantino emerged as one of cinema’s greatest writers/directors, all thanks to Pulp Fiction even if Reservoir Dogs was his very first film

Pulp Fiction collectively tells the story of two hitmen, a mob boss, a boxer and the mob bosses’ wife living out their lives and naturally being involved with crime. The great thing about Pulp Fiction is the perfect tying in of every single thing that happened in the film whether it be one of Tarantino’s extremely engaging conversations or just a murder, or a simple joke. 

Unlike other crime films such as The Godfather which is so full of heart, Pulp Fiction is an illustration of what life would be like under crime never showing any hints of emotion even when main characters are tortured as is Butch, in one specific scene. Tarantino was aware that his style and approach towards this now crime masterpiece was unique at the time for various reasons, especially the storytelling which is utter Tarantino brilliance.

When a film does not have heart but more so violence and heavy crime, there needs to be endearing characters spread throughout one of these films for us to really engage and immerse ourselves in such a world where crime is life. Thankfully, Tarantino by this stage had completely mastered how to write not only dialogue but his characters who are some of my all time favorites. Samuel L Jackson plays Jules Winnfield, a foul mouthed hit man and a friend of Vincent Vega, played by John Travolta. The two share incredible chemistry and are an absolute joy whenever they share a moment of screen time. Thankfully, there’s more than a moment! There’s a whole story and a half with the two, which is how Pulp Fiction is told. It is told throughout various stories taking place in different characters’ lives all of which share some necessity to the end of the film, whether it be Jules executing an innocent Brett or whether it be about Butch receiving advice from Marsellus Wallace. Even though ‘The Bonnie Situation’ is my favourite story, I love all three stories equally which is what Tarantino intended and which is what he succeeds at thankfully. However, ‘The Gold Watch’ segment is more engaging than I remember the last time I viewed this film. It is full of humor and is probably the only story that features any emotion depth in any way, yet the film in every way turns out a piece of legend! 

Every single actor does their part perfectly. Jackson and Travolta are the true stars of this film, figuratively and literally. However, the supporting cast consisting of Bruce Willis, Uma Thurman, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Amanda Plummer and Christopher Walken all do a fantastic job. Even Tarantino himself has a role in the film and whilst this is one of the weaker performances in the film, it still has some great moments. This is where the film truly dominates most of cinema’s films. Not in the story or the acting, or even the direction. But in the dialogue. I am not someone who gets engaged to dialogue to the extent I have in Pulp Fiction, which is quite possibly the most quotable film I’ve ever had the pleasure of viewing. Tarantino is able to perfectly place everyday conversations into a unique crime film in a way that not only is it entertaining but it develops characters and a story. Most of the characters are completely understood from the dialogue they say. Some of my favourite dialogue ever came from Jackson and some other fantastic lines from Travolta and Willis.

This film is one of the most perfectly paced 150 minute films. To think that by the end of this film, I truly wonder what has happened to time completely tells that when one is able to forget about the duration of a film, they are immersed and that is what I was. I was taken into a world full of crime and violence, so empty of peace and happiness which is simply not where I want to ever be but was able to take myself and accept myself into such a world. Everything about Pulp Fiction is utterly perfect and when you add the incredible entertainment factor and the high re-watchability factor that Pulp Fiction has, then you basically find yourself having a timeless masterpiece that is not only Tarantino’s best but one of the all time greats. 

Grade- 10/10 

Most deserved!!!!