My top 30 films - No.3

3. Toy Story 3 (2010) - "No toy gets left behind."

The film that made grown men cry. This was the one film I was looking forward to so much in 2010. I, like millions of teenagers and people in their early 20s, had been waiting for this film for 11 years. We all had high hopes and expectations and it failed to disappoint. My sister did warn me in advance to take a packet of tissues with me, because when she saw it the whole cinema, even the ushers, were in tears. I must admit it; it was a little emotional when I first saw it and I did my best to hide it with my most manly of coughs. I am guessing that there was a lot of that. The second time, I was a blubbering wreck.

In this film (assuming that you know who the characters are from the previous two films), the toys haven't been played with for several years and Andy is leaving for college. He doesn't know what he wants to do with: put them in the trash, put them in the attic, give them away or take them with him? He decides that he wants to take Woody (Tom Hanks (Philadelphia, Forrest Gump and Saving Private Ryan)) with him and to put the others in the attic. However, his mum mistakes the bin liner containing them for trash and leaves them for the oncoming bin lorry. However, they escape and decide they want to be donated to a day-care centre. They arrive there and meet Lotso (Ned Beatty), who guarantees that they'll be played with every day. Whilst all the others seem to like their new surroundings and look forward to a new life at the day-care centre, Woody gives up trying to convince them that they shouldn't be there and tries to go back to Andy on his own. The others soon get played with, or should I say mistreated, in much the same way we used to mistreat toys; such as getting them covered in paint/glue/etc. or eating them. To quote Buzz (Tim Allen), the children they have aren't "age-appropriate".

The main theme of Toy Story 3 is growing up and leaving your childhood behind; it happens to everybody. We have grown up listening to the voices of Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, John Ratzenberger and co. as those characters. I first watched Toy Story in 1997, when I was 5 years old and it has stuck out for me. Quite simply, this film will resonate with grown-ups as well as kids. Kids will be in awe of the visuals, whereas adults are more likely to be in floods of tears, because it will mean more to them, as they've shared the experiences that Andy has in the films. The majority of fans may even have been the same age as Andy was when Toy Story was originally released in 1995, or if they are older they may have kids of their own.

There was an article on the BBC website at the time it was released about movies that make grown men cry and had asked some for their opinions. One of the films included was Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King; I agree with that, as expressed in a previous post. There was also The Shawshank Redemption, Up, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest, Babe and The Railway Children. The last two I can relate somewhat to and they were highlighted for their endings. However, one man did say Marley & Me. Why that person went to see that film I the first place I'll never know. Let's just hope he got roped into it by his girlfriend.

There are also a couple of scary moments in the film, as there have been throughout the trilogy, which has led to people questioning the certification. It is a U certificate and there are other Disney films with the same classification that are equally scary. It is more grown-up than most modern animation films, such as How To Train Your Dragon, mainly because of its theme and the main age of its audience. It doesn't do what a lot of animation films do, when they are intended for kids but want to attract adults, which is makes reference to adult films. For example, Shark Tale references The Godfather, Raging Bull, Scarface, Goodfellas, etc. It meant nothing to its main target audience.

One final point, from Mark Kermode. He thinks, and I agree with him, that the Toy Story trilogy is arguably the greatest movie trilogy ever. It's more consistent than The Godfather; it's even more consistent than The Lord Of The Rings (I hate to admit that). The Godfather: Part III was bad compared to the others (mainly because of Sofia Coppala's terrible acting) and The Two Towers did drag on for a bit too long. The Toy Story trilogy is absolutely faultless. There are rumours about a fourth film; to the studios I say "No, you've done all you need do. Toy Story 3 was the best way to finish the series and you could drag it down with a fourth film." If they do release a fourth film, I might just ignore it and pretend it doesn't exist. Toy Story put Pixar Studios on the map and they built on its success to make other great films such as Monsters Inc., Finding Nemo, WALL·E and Up. Disney films are not as good as they were once upon a time, as they have moved away from traditional hand-drawn animations, such as The Lion King and The Jungle Book, to CGI and live action films, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and John Carter (of MARS!!!)

When it came to choosing my favourite film of 2010, my head said Inception, but my heart said Toy Story 3...

My top 30 films - No.4

4. The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - "Fear can hold you prisoner. Hope can set you free."
Everybody's favourite film (probably), inspired by the novella Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King. And unlike the vast majority of Stephen King's books, it's not a horror.
The film centres around Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins), a banker who is convicted for the murder of his wife and her lover in 1947. He is ordered to serve two consecutive life sentences at Shawshank State Penitentiary in Maine. After a shaky start, he soon earns the respect and friendship of Ellis Boyd "Red" Redding (Morgan Freeman (Million Dollar Baby and Invictus), the prison fixer. He takes every day as it comes; he has a routine to start with, but then he surprisingly helps most of the prison staff with their accounts and acquires funding for the prison library. However, whereas most criminals become institutionalised, Andy still has a desire and determination for freedom.
The film is directed by Frank Darabont who 5 years later went on to direct another film based on a Stephen King book, The Green Mile. Darabont did write a potenial story for what would become Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. His idea was rejected by George Lucas. George, if you had not rejected his idea, it would have been a much better film. In 1983, he made a short adaptation of Stephen King's The Woman in the Room, which impressed the author. He sold the film rights for Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption for a dollar. The alternative choice of director was most likely to have been Rob Rainer, who adapted King's novella The Body into the 1986 film Stand By Me. He also directed the film adaptation of Misery in 1990. There is a history of Stephen King not liking some adaptations of his works. The most notable has to be The Shining.
King's novella originally portrayed Red as a middle-aged, red-haired Irishman. However, Darabont decided to cast Morgan Freeman for his presence on screen and demeanor. In his version, Rob Rainer wanted would have gone for Harrison Ford. But Morgan Freeman is perhaps the heart and soul of the film. He does actually say, rather jokingly, "Maybe it's 'cause I'm Irish". He has said that this is his favourite out of his own films. Tim Robbins gives a decent performance as Andy, but another one of the best performances is James Whitmore's as Brooks. He is a character who has spent most of his life at Shawshank, so he has become institutionalized and struggles as soon as he is released back into society.
The ironic thing is even though these people are in prison, the majority of them are actually "innocent". But the main theme to the large extent is the sense of hope and freedom even behind bars. As Andy says "there are places in this world that aren't made out of stone. That there's something inside... that they can't get to, that they can't touch. That's yours." An example of that is the scene where Andy plays an exert from The Marriage of Figaro by Mozart over the loudspeakers. It is one of the most powerful scenes ever I think. Another is Andy keeping his integrity intact, especially in prison.
The Shawshank Redemption did have shaky time when it was originally released. It didn't make much money at the box office at that time, so was re-released during the Oscar season. It is one of the greatest films not to win a single Academy Award. It was nominated though, but in most of the same categories as Forrest Gump. However, it has since become more and more popular. If I was to make a list of great films never to win an Academy Award, this would feature alongside The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, This is Spinal Tap, A Clockwork Orange, Taxi Driver, Monty Python's Life of Brian; you get the picture. In 2011, listeners to BBC Radio 1 voted it their favourite film of all time. And I'm not going to say what I said when I first saw that...

My top 30 films - No.5

5. The Dark Knight (2008) - "Why so serious?"

In 2005, Batman Begins was released and so began the launch of another superhero film series. However, this one was different, because it was directed by Christopher Nolan. He cares more about the story in a way that appeals to and interests audiences, even since he made Memento.

The Dark Knight is the second in the series and starts with a number of mob-owned banks being robbed by the Joker (Heath Ledger (A Knight's Tale and Brokeback Mountain)). Lieutenant Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman (Dracula, Leon and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy)) and Batman (Christian Bale (American Psycho) decide to go after the mob themselves, along with the new DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart (Thank You For Smoking)). However, the Joker unleashes anarchy and chaos in Gotham and will only stop if Batman turns himself in and reveals his identity. Batman therefore gets close to crossing the line between vigilante and hero.

As is the way with most second films in a trilogy/franchise, The Dark Knight is a far darker movie than Batman Begins, similar to The Empire Strikes Back or Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom. It is all about ideas - how easy it is to turn someone from good to evil. The main way they do this is through the Harvey Dent character. As fans of the original DC comics will known Harvey Dent becomes known as Two Face. It also features several moral dilemmas presented by the Joker, causing people to make difficult decisions. For example, the scene on the two ships where one is full of innocent civilians and the other a group of criminals. Both ships are filled with explosives, but given the detonator to the other boat. The Joker is wanting there to be a massacre. Maybe there were a few too many moral dilemmas, but if you told the filmmakers this, they would say "No, it's necessary to the plot". It's like writing an essay and you have to try to meet your word court, but there are some aspects you just don't want to get rid of because of their importance to you.

As I'm sure you know, this film was released months after the unfortunate death of Heath Ledger. Even though his career was cut short, his performance as the Joker is one of the greatest performances of all time. Naturally, people wanted it to win Best Lead Actor at the Oscars. Ledger instead won Best Supporting Actor, which I believe was the right category for him. It was only the second time ever that someone had won a posthumous Oscar for acting (the other was Peter Finch for Network). He actually hid in a motel room for six weeks, delving into the Joker's psychology and developing the voice. The look is similar to that of Sid Vicious and many of his mannerisms and tone is reminiscent of Malcolm McDowell's character in A Clockwork Orange. His Joker performance is so different to that of Jack Nicholson in Tim Burton's Batman.  Nicholson = clown. Ledger = psychopath.

Ledger's performance does overshadow Christian Bale's as Batman. It's another good performance from Bale, especially when you see the dark side of Batman in the interrogation scene. However, there were comments concerning his voice when he was playing Batman. Apparently the rough, gritty sound to it was a post-production idea by Christopher Nolan. It was a bit too similar to Christian Bale's voice in Terminator Salvation and that was the same, "whether he is ordering an attack or ordering some milk". I preferred the Batman voice from Batman Begins, because you can understand what he is saying. There is also another great performance by Gary Oldman, one of the best actors at the minute. His character is somewhat understated in the whole film, but he does appear in this film more than he does in Batman Begins, partly because his character has more responsibility in this film. Aaron Eckhart said he modelled his performance partly on Robert F. Kennedy and that shows, especially in the first half of the film. Nolan decided to go with Eckhart on the strength of his performance in Thank You For Smoking. As with Batamn Begins, it features Michael Caine and Morgan Freeman, as well as a quick cameo appearance from Cillian Murphy as Scarecrow. There was also a change in the cast; in Batman Begins, Rachel Dawes was played by Katie Holmes, but in The Dark Knight she was instead played by Maggie Gyllenhaal (Donnie Darko). Holmes decided to instead to appear in Mad Money.

When he made Batman Begins, Christopher Nolan did not have a second unit, so he oversaw every shot. It's the same in The Dark Knight. It was actually the first film ever to be partially shot in IMAX. The two most notable sequences are the bank robbery at the beginning and the car chase. This was challenging due to the size and weight of IMAX cameras compared to a standard one. As with most of Nolan's other films, the director of photography is Wally Pfister, who found problems with the skydiving sequence in Hong Kong. Environmentalists criticized the request to leave the skyscraper's lights on to enhance the cinematography. Therefore, the jump was created digitally. Another standout set piece is the Joker standing in front of a huge pile of money and just setting it on fire.

My goal was to get this review done before getting a chance to see The Dark Knight Rises. It is now out cinemas, so in some respects I have failed. I hope to see it in the next few days. It has definitely made headlines, especially with the news of the death of 12 people at a screening in Colorado on its release. It is unfortunate that we have to acknowledge the film in that respect. However, it is noble that Christian Bale went to see the survivors recently in the news. My original concern was that The Dark Knight Rises could be similar to The Godfather: Part III and the series follows that trend (the first film is good, second is better, but third is worse). On the other hand, I have heard mostly positive reviews of it. It is the last Christopher Nolan film that Wally Pfister is working on, before he goes off and becomes a director himself. I wish him all the best for the future.

The Dark Knight took $158,411,483 in its first weekend of release and held the box-office record for the largest opening weekend of all time. Two films since have beaten that - Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 and The Avengers. Overall the film took $1,001,921,825 worldwide (currently 12th highest-grossing film of all time). It was this kind of success which made Warner Bros. allow Christopher Nolan to make Inception. Even though this is a superhero film, it is not to be taken likely. The BBFC were right to give it a 12A certificate for "strong fantasy violence and sustained threat", so you wouldn't want to take your kids to see it. Unless you want them to become interested in great films at a early age...