7. The Apartment (Billy Wilder, 1960)

I love to laugh. Whether it be at some lame inside joke with my mates, laughing at silly lines in old episodes of Friends or laughing uproariously at stand-up comedy, I believe that laughter is terrific for the soul. Sadly, it isn’t all fun and games in my top 10, where there are 9 drama/romances and just the one comedy. And even the comedy, by the director and star’s standards, are surprisingly somber at times. The movie in question? The Apartment.

It’s 60s New York City and the protagonist, the kookily named C. C. Baxter (Jack Lemmon) has a dead end job and an even more lamentable love life. He has an apartment on the Upper West Side (there’s your Sex and the City-style location referencing), which he lends the key out to four of his managers, so that they can take their mistresses there and bung without their wives finding out. It’s not a position C.C. particularly enjoys being in, but he’s not one for confrontation so he expresses his displeasure by purposely mixing up his workmates’ liaisons. Meanwhile, C.C. finds his eye caught by Fran Kubelik, the elevator operator from where he works. C. C.’s apartment earns him glowing reports from all four

managers and following that a promotion, though his director Mr Sheldrake suspects something. He allows for the promotion, only on the condition that he can also use the apartment, to which Baxter, delighted with his promotion, acquiesces. It probably won’t surprise you to hear that Sheldrake arranged the apartment to use with Fran Kubelik, thus making for a very dysfunctional love triangle.

At the time of its release, the themes of infidelity depicted in The Apartment meant it made for uncomfortable watching amongst American audiences, who until then had led a sheltered cinema-going experience where all is well and the only bad things in a marriage is when the wife undercooks the breakfast. As such, the film received pretty bad reviews. By today’s standards, however, the film is an extremely smart satire on the working world and the so-called “sanctities” of marriage, and one only needs to look in a local workplace or an ailing marriage and a husband with a wandering eye to know how this cynical film hits the nail on the head.

The wonderful thing about C.C. Baxter and Fran Kubelik is that they’re both far from perfect, getting themselves into some sticky situations, but the joy of it all is that they can get themselves out of it. Jack Lemmon, in one of his best roles, is wonderful as the mild-mannered, exploited Baxter, who’s sense of moral values leave him with precious little. But the star of the show is easily Shirley MacLaine, who shows the world that she’s more than just a pretty face. Her acting skills are truly tested as the complex Fran; smart and together at the start, a complete wreck in her confrontation with Mr Sheldrake, but sharp and getting some of her swagger back by the end. It’s a glowing and multi-layered performance that cemented MacLaine’s place as a true auteur. Fran likes C.C., for his kindness and warmness, but her feelings aren’t quite as ardent as his towards her, and it is both refreshing to see a film wherein it is the woman who is the more disinterested party, yet equally frustrating, because C.C. is a much better match for her than Mr Sheldrake ever could.

As you’d expect from a Billy Wilder film, the screenplay is flawless, taking us from one genre to another. The dialogue feels unforced and natural (C.C. Baxter could be the guy in the supermarket who you’ve known for ages), at the same time holding some wonderful repartee and sparring. Shirley MacLaine once revealed in an interview that much of The Apartment was improvised by the actors as they went along. It’s these little touches – along with the strong plot based on the script – that elevate this film out of “standard romantic comedy” territory, such as Jack Lemmon humming as he prepares the meatball sauce. There are moments in the film when things turn extremely sour and the tone is almost desperate, but Billy Wilder, being the expect director that he is, knows how to balance these emotions perfectly and make light of even the deepest sadnesses.

Like many of the films in my top 10, The Apartment is a romance. Unlike the other nine, it is a comedy. But within the comedy, there is also tragedy. We see good people compromising their principles in order to get a step up in the working world, as well as how love can lift you up, then, just as you’re feeling nothing can bring you down, give you a gigantic kick in the bollocks. In this love story there is duplicity, infidelity, depression, loneliness and despair aplenty. The Apartment doesn’t sugarcoat things like plenty of other films from that era did, and its honesty – and cynicism is invigorating. Because, at the end of the day, love ain’t all a bed of flowers, but Fran’s ambiguous closing line hints that she may or may not be willing to give it another chance.

Play it Again, Tom.

I watched the first part of the 2003 TV mini-series "Cambridge Spies" today, which starred, amongst a range of British talent, the wonderful Tom Hollander, and it dawned on me, in the middle of his hot-but-sadly-not-very-convincing love scene, how damn much I love the man. 

He's a terrific actor, always excelling in the roles he's been given, and also, I find his voice kind of bung. In 2009 alone, he did drama - The Soloist, sweary comedy - In the Loop, (coincidently, I saw both films in the same week!)  as well as a bungload of telly, including "The Thick of It", the show from the writers of In the Loop. 

I've decided to make it a mission of mine in March to watch as many of his movies that I haven't viewed already as possible. It'll be fun! And then, if it's a success and I can be arsed, I'll find another (relatively) low-key movie star to bum throughout April, then May, etc etc. :)

My Eyes are Blurred, My Senses are Limited. Am I suspecting a familiar twinge?

Chloe, starring three of my favourite actors, Liam Neeson, Amanda Seyfried, and the very beautiful and talented Julianne Moore (50 this year, but still looking smokin'), is essentially a remake of 2003's Nathalie..., in which a wife, sensing that her husband may be philandering, hires the prostitute Nathalie to put his fidelity to the test. In the original, French screen icons Fanny Ardant, Emmanuelle Béart and Gérard Depardieu starred as the claustraphobic threesome. Here, Moore plays the suspicious doctor wife, Liam Neeson is the husband and Amanda Seyfried is Chloe, the epynomous escort. Of course, things never work out as smoothly as planned, and Moore's Catherine soon finds that she has let herself in for far more than she'd bargained for when she let Chloe into her life.

If the cast alone isn't enough to tempt you into seeing this film, there's also the rather exciting promise of seeing Amanda Seyfried ditch the sunny persona that suits her so well in movies like Mean Girls and Mamma Mia!, to see a darker side of her, which will surely test her acting muscles a bit more. This darker side even involves her in a scene wherein she seduces Julianne Moore's wide-eyed wife. My favourite cinematic wife of Liam Neeson's has thus far been Laura Linney, but it'll be exciting to see what a photogenic couple he'll make with Moore, and Nathalie..., whilst a little uneven, was a terrific watch, centred around a thrilling lead performance by the stunning Béart. With indie king Atom Egoyan at the helm, Chloe is sure to be a intruiging watch. When it hits cinema screens in the UK on the 5th March, I'll be one of the first ones there.

A Look Ahead to Best Supporting Actress.

I have been woeful this year with my "analysing" the oscar categories; this is the first one. This is partly down to the fact that I haven't seen, nor do I have any interest in seeing, some of the Oscar nominated movies this year, hence I can't really form an opinion. However, having watched Up in the Air last night, I can finally get round to analysing at least one category, and luck should have it that it's one of my favourites.

01. Mo'Nique for Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire

Precious' mother, Mary Jones, sits on the couch all day, enjoying her telenovels, eating whatever she forces her daughter Precious to cook, occasionally getting up to abuse Precious, and living off benefits. She's a horrible monster; when Precious was first abused as a young baby, all Mary cared about was that the man no longer loved her, and every time she opened her mouth on screen, I shuddered. I didn't care for the film one jot, but Mariah Carey, Paula Patton and in particular Mo'Nique and Gabby Sidibe gave terrific performances, almost making the wretched experience worthwhile. Detestable as Mo'Nique's Mary is, she commands our attention, and her delivery of the final monologue blew me away; it no way made up for the sixteen years of torture she imposed upon Precious, but it offered a window (however twisted and wrong) into the depths of her twisted villainous logic, and the extent of the emotions depicted were so sincere and realistic, that we believed Mary thought she was in the right. With all the pre-cursors she's gotten; BAFTA, SAG, Golden Globe, various critic's awards, Mo'Nique will be a shoo-in to win, and to be quite honest, it's totally deserved. The other four nominations are all acceptable enough (save Cruz, ugh), but Mo'Nique knocks them all out of the park. One of a kind. A

02. Anna Kendrick for Up in the Air

Anna Kendrick, or "Her off Twilight" as she'll probably be better remembered in future years, surprised me with a cute and loveable performance as Natalie Keener, eager new yuppie in George Clooney's organisation (who's job it is to fly all over the states just to fire people), who is keen to demolish flying and instead do all the firings over webcam. Graduating top of her class and seeming to be extremely intelligent and focused, Keener followed her boyfriend around, leading her to this job, showing that all the degrees in the world won't teach you how to make good decisions. At the start of the movie she comes across as a know-it-all who thinks she's got it all sorted, a notion Clooney's character soon quells for her when they begin to do some firings together. Although it's not a hugely taxing role, Kendrick plays Natalie with sensitivity, particularly when her character begins to realise she doesn't have the answers to everything, and how easy things in theory can be difficult in practice. Kendrick also has some fine comic timing throughout the movie, as well as delivering a cute monologue about what she looks for in her perfect man. It's a character that I, as part of the twitter-and-texting generation, can emphathise with and enjoy; and her transition from naive kid to slightly-more-in-the-know adult is well channeled through the film. B+

03. Maggie Gyllenhaal for Crazy Heart

In a performance that has drawn obvious comparisons with that of Marisa Tomei  in The Wrestler, Gyllenhaal plays a young reporter, Jean, who is drawn in to Bridges' Bad Blake, thus cementing the central romantic thread of the film. Blake is battling with alcohol addiction, Jean battling with loneliness. Together, the two make a good, if dysfunctional pairing, and the chemistry between really anchors what is otherwise a fairly run-of-the-mill "man on the slippery slopes finds redemption in good woman" tale. A good, believable performance, but nothing special at all by Gyllenhaal's own standards. B-

04. Vera Farmiga for Up in the Air

Vera Farmiga first made waves on my girlcrush radar in 2006's The Departed, wherein she spent a good deal of the movie running about in T-shirt and undies, looking pretty damn gorgeous for a woman of her age. In Up in the Air, her beauty is commented on twice, which made me happy, because she is, in my eyes, an unusual beauty. In Up in the Air, she gives one of her lesser performances, but is still charming enough to watch. As the mature, sensual older woman, she exudes class and sexuality in every step she takes, someone who knows what she wants and knows how to get it. Nothing overly special, but pleasant enough, especially in the scenes she shares with Clooney, which have witty reparte to the max. There's nothing particular about the things she says, but it's more the way she says it. It's a performance that's so good because of the energy she exudes, rather than any real acting she does. B-

05. Penélope Cruz for Nine

Don't get me wrong, I love Penélope, like 90% of the time. Even if I was somewhat underwhelmed by her performance in Broken Embraces, I still appreciated her talent for the most part there, and her performance in Volver ranks as one of my favourite of all time. However, her nomination for Nine? Nein. As Guido's mistress, her character is awfully written; directly shoved into the box of "shunned mistress", and Penélope suffers from the poor writing in her performance. Her dancing is very good, appropriately sultry and seductive, but the acting performance left me less than impressed. Men probably won't mind that her acting muscles weren't stretched as they had her in slutty clothes throughout the movie to make up for it, but to me, her clothes (or lack thereof), simply made an already difficult-to-like character even more dislikable. If anyone should have been nominated for this movie, it was Marion Cotillard, who really did evoke empathy from me as the wife who recognises all her husband's flaws. Cruz, for the most part, is a wonderful and lovely actress, but in Nine? Well, she ain't no Sandra Milo in 8 1/2, let's say that. D

Who will win: Mo'Nique, Precious

Who should win: Mo'Nique, Precious

Who deserved to get nominated: Melanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds!!!!! Um, hello! She only have the fiercest performance of the year! Bad work, Academy, for missing out on this awesome performance.

27 Dresses.

Seven of my fave dresses. 'Cos I'm bored.

I didn't mean to break it, b-b-b-break it babe.

Funny People (Judd Apatow, 2009)

Adam Sandler plays a jaded comedy star who, on discovering he may die of leukaemia, takes a step back and tries to sort his life out, with the help of eager-to-please Seth Rogen. This film dragged far too much for me, not gonna lie, and a lot of the jokes weren’t even funny. Rogen was charming in his own way, but Sandler, who seems to have three modes, two of which I love – serious actor Sandler and loveable comedy gold Sandler, instead spent most of the movie in the third mode – irritating goon Sandler who laughs at his own unfunny jokes. The subplot with ex-girlfriend Leslie Mann and her husband Eric Bana made me lol, quite a bit, but on the whole, 150 minutes running time was about 140 too many. Not that funny.

The Naked City (Jules Dassin, 1948)

Absolutely wonderful film noir set in New York, both a joy in terms of plotting and tension as well as technical elements- editing and cinematography (particularly the dark, ominous shadows) stunned. New York is caught in both its glory and its fugliness, just how I like it. The Naked City set the tone for many other (and inferior) modern day thrillers, such as The Black Dahlia. As per most crime movies, there's a murder, there's an investigation and there's a case of did-he-didn't he, but it never gets old. If I had any criticisms with this film, I suppose it would be that it resembles plenty other noirs, I’ve seen before, but the film manages to have its own plot and the semi-documentary style gives it an extra edge.

Up (Pete Docter, 2009)
Well, you had my initial reaction and full review here, but needless to say, I loved it. Beautiful, beautiful movie, so witty and cute and featuring that transcendent 4-minute clip at the start which stayed with me longer than any other 2009 film scene, and most other films scenes, come to think of it. "Tonal modulation" is a phrase I use frequently, but that four-minute vignette had it in spades, highlighting the sweet moments and the sour ones of Carl's life. I'm informed that my initial supposition that the bit I'd interpreted Ellie to have been told she was barren was actually being told she had miscarried, and that Disney dared to touch upon this, in their poignant way, completely blew me away. The bright colours, clash of happy and sad, and ultimate portrayal of love in this film is too beautiful.



In a Lonely Place (Nicholas Ray, 1950)
Nicholas Ray does dark dramas with impending sense of foreboding better than anyone, and this is no different. The chemistry between Gloria Grahame (who deserved more starring roles) and Bogie is incredible, the man himself giving one of his finest performances, a wonderful example of how love can make a man vulnerable. The "did he/didn't he" element lacks a little punch as so many poor imitations have been churned out, but with zingers of lines like “I didn’t say I was a gentleman, I said I was tired”
and “I always go home with the man who brought me”, In a Lonely Place is far ahead of the crap they churn out today. Classic noir.

44 Inch Chest (Malcolm Venville, 2009)
Basically in this movie, Ray Winstone’s wife Joanne Whalley leaves him for another man, completely bruising him. His mates kidnap the bastard that done it leave him in a room alone with Winstone, whilst they wait impatiently outside, wanting him to hurry up and kill him so they can go down to the boozer. The language in this film is coarse for coarse’s sake, with John Hurt in particular doing a none too impressive impression of Ben Kingsley in Sexy Beast, with his wild abuse of the c-word. Winstone is, by his own standards, not up to much in this movie (though his woefully underwritten character has a lot to do with that), but Tom Wilkinson, as the hardman with a heart who still lives at home with his mother, Stephen Dillane as the curt accomplice and Ian McShane, playing terrifically against type as a coy homosexual, make terrifically great fun, almost making this movie worth watching.

À ma soeur! (Catherine Breillat, 2001)
Um, ew. I watched this with my best friends Luke and Anna and we were just so sickened throughout. Catherine Brellait needs locking up or something, paedo. I can’t think of any redeeming qualities in this movie whatsoever. The sister in the movie was a particularly nasty piece of work, and the scene in which she gets taken up the chuff by some pervert whilst her little sister watches is beyond grim. This isn’t cinema, this is child exploitation. That said, at least the fat girl in question is a looker.