Heat (1995)

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Tom Sizemore, Diane Venora, Amy Brenneman, Natalie Portman
Certificate: 15
Genre: Crime
Awards: None

Neil McCauley and Vincent Hannah are on opposite sides of the law. Set in LA, Heat has the two trying to outplay each other leading to Neil getting away or locked up for good. Neil lives an unattached life which he feels makes him safer. Vincent however has a troubled family that need him more than he knows. However, Neil is the one with the friends.

Heat is a moody, stylised film that people familiar with Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy will find quite familiar. The action is stunning and infatuating while watching two godfathers shooting at each other is incredibly watchable.

****Good

Heat Trailer

The Deer Hunter (1978)

Director: Michael Cimino
Starring: Robert De Niro, Christopher Walken, John Savage, John Cazale, George Dzundza,Meryl Streep, Chuck Aspergren
certificate: 18
Genre: Drama,war
Awards: Best supporting actor (Walken), Best director, Best editing, Best Picture, Best sound

The Deer Hunter is a film about the horrors of the vietnam war and how it affects the people who fought in it. It centres on a group of friends in a small town in America. Michael (De Niro) and Nicky (Waken) are the best friends who join the army with the recently married Steven (Savage). During their service all three are changed by the experiences they go through.

The Deer Hunter is an extremely slow film.  It focuses more on the relationships of the characters more than the war. However, it's acted well and some nail bitingly tense scenes. It packs an emotional punch that will stay with you for quite a while.

****Good

The Deer Hunter Trailer

The King Of Comedy (1983)

Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Robert De Niro, Jerry Lewis, Sandra Bernhard
Certificate: PG
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Awards: None

Rupert Pupkin is a man who wants to be the new king of comedy. To get there he starts to stalk his idol - Jerry Langford - to try and get on his show. Not taking hints that all Jerry wants to do is get rid of the guy who keeps bothering him, Rupert begins to believe more and more into his fantasies of being a megastar.

The best thing about TKOC is the ending. We don't know if what happened is true or just another of Rupert's fantasies. It keeps the audience guessing and mulling over the film after the have left the story. The fantasies also show how each of us can be locked to looking at our futures and therefore not looking at our present.

*****Brilliant

The King Of Comedy Trailer

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, James Marcus
Certificate:18
Genre: Sci Fi, Crime
Awards: None

Futuristic Britain sees mobs of youths terrorising the country with rape and violence. Our character - or humble narrator - is Alex (McDowell). Alex is vicious, violent but has so much charisma that it is hard to hate him. After a botched robbery, Alex is arrested and sentenced to fourteen years in prison. There, he is made a subject of a new treatment which will make him a law abiding citizen. He is let out afterwards but his past won't let him forget so easily.

If A Clockwork Orange was made today, it would be an incredibly dark film where Alex would seem horrific. It would be very depressing. However, Stanley Kubrick is able to give the film a sense of humour while we see everything from Alex's eyes, therefore seeing his perspective of everything. Alex does not seem like the villain of the film - even though he has done immensely villainess things . It just feels as if the world has gone wrong, and during the second half Alex looks so pathetic, you have to feel sorry for him.

There is a lot of Rape and violence here and the film is definitely not for the faint of heart. However, the violence is all stylised with sound effects. The language is apparently quite hard to understand also. I didn't have any problem with it as it is accompanied with visuals which tell you what the characters are talking about.

A Clockwork Orange is an immensely well made film with an infatuating voice over. Malcolm McDowell is so good as Alex that he drowns out all the other characters. Any fan of film needs to see this as it is a milestone of violence in cinema and is just a great film.

*****Brilliant